


Work for It

by jeejaschocolate



Category: Persona 5
Genre: (might be an AU to some people), (still canon), (that's canon too), (which is again canon), Addictive Behavior, Age Difference, Anal Play, Big/Little Play, Blow Jobs, Canon Compliant, Confessions, Consensual and safe but not quite sane, Daddy Issues, Daddy Kink, Destruction kink, Especially not these two, Established Relationship, Father/Son Incest, Feels no one was ready for, I'll leave the rest up to you lovely people, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, In a certain way, Lies, M/M, Multiple Orgasms, Murderers, References to Suicide, Rough Sex, Sexual Content, Shido Has a Heart, Subspace, That heart has feelings, The daddy kink doesn't have boundaries, They Don't Know It Yet, Villains as humans, anger issues, little!space, problematic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2020-12-24 23:31:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 33,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21107789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeejaschocolate/pseuds/jeejaschocolate
Summary: Akechi was always just a pawn in Shido’s game. Part of the plan. Shido’s been working on this plan for years. There’s nothing in the world that can stop him from becoming prime minister and rebuilding the country in his image.So why….?Why does it piss him off so much that Akechi’s not answering his phone?





	1. Again? Really?

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, this is the shiake longfic of my dreams.
> 
> It all started when I was listening to DJ Khaled's song "Work for it," which is where this title came from. I was putting together a shiake playlist at the time (for Reasons) and that song just...gave me all the feels. If you want the playlist lmk. There's a lot of songs there that helped me come up with this characterization of Shido. Which is my heart's true desire. 
> 
> Shido is a human. With feelings. Fucked up feelings, but feelings nonetheless. So it is written, so it is done.

_“The number you have dialed 656-xxx-xxxx is not available to take your call. Please leave your message after the tone.” _

Shido crushed the ‘end call’ button under his thumb. Knuckles turning white with effort.

Again? Really? 

He dropped his phone carelessly onto his desk and stood up. He’d thrown his suit jacket over the back of his chair, now he was just wearing his white buttoned dress shirt and slacks. A few buttons popped open at the top. This was as casual as he ever got in the office. It wasn’t a look he’d present to the public, but it was fine now, past 6:00 in the evening, when everyone else had already gone home. He stared out the long, floor-to-ceiling window in his penthouse suite and positively seethed. 

You wouldn’t recognize it as ‘seething’ if you didn’t know him. He wasn’t muttering to himself or cursing under his breath. His face didn’t look that much different than its normal serious, unimpressed fixture. He was just standing there in front of the window, looking down at Tokyo like he owned it—which he soon would. In his mind, it was already done. He regarded the district below him as a lion might regard his den. Dispassionately prideful. Casual ownership with the knowledge that he bore innate responsibility over everything in his purview. Tokyo fell under his purview, and so would all of Japan. But Shido didn’t pretend to care too much about the people who lived there. His job was to steer them in the right direction, not get involved with their day-to-day. In a way, he didn’t see the tiny specks toiling below him as ‘people;’ he saw them as moving parts. Gears turning inside a clock. People were what made Tokyo go. They were dolls dancing on a stage, and Shido was the puppeteer. The clockmaker. The guy who got his hands dirty making sure the gears were turning as they should. That was on him. 

In general, Shido felt like he had a pretty good handle on his job. The pieces were finally falling into place. The election was coming up in a few months and the October polls had him winning by a landslide. Basically giving him a mandate to implement whatever policies he wanted once he got into office.

It was all…well, perfect. Mind you, Shido wasn’t the type of guy to count his chickens before they were hatched. The election wasn’t over until it was over. You never knew what would happen come election day. People were inconsistent, illogical things. Any tiny loose screw could throw the whole thing out of whack. These phantom thieves had been a lovely fucking wrench in the system, with their metaverse antics and their childish cunning for winning over popular opinion. Even so, Shido wasn’t too concerned about them anymore. He had contingencies in place to take care of them. Those contingencies had done their job well.

Fantastically well, if Shido were being honest. Better than he ever thought they would. He was impressed—and he didn’t get impressed often. He’d thought himself beyond that at this point in his career. 

Although…one of those contingencies was currently refusing his calls. And his texts. And his emails. 

That pissed Shido off to absolutely no end. 

What was that idiot thinking? Shido shouldn’t even be calling him! Sure, he’d given that kid—_Akechi_, for fuck’s sake—an untraceable phone to help him conduct his business. They needed to have some communication with each other, but no one could ever, _ever _follow a trail from Akechi to Shido and vice versa. That’s what the damn phone was for—but that didn’t mean Shido could just be calling it on a whim! Whenever he used that phone, it was for important reasons. Mostly business reasons….(mostly). At any rate, Akechi should never ignore a call from that phone for any reason whatsoever. He thought he’d made that clear to the little brat! 

Shido watched the cogs turning below him and squeezed his eyes closed. Damn it. Damn it…what was that kid thinking, disobeying him? Did he know what it meant to cross him…? 

He yanked the glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes. Shit, his eyes were tired. He’d been working too late again. As always. His face muscles were starting to ache the way they did when he’d been staring at screens too long. Even with the damn protective orange lenses, he still squinted. It was inevitable. Now he was tired, achy, overworked, and irritable. 

He shouldn’t be feeling like this. He had one month until victory, for god’s sake! He should be gliding over everything, feeling his oats more than ever. High off the fumes of impending success…

Shido glared at his silent phone and scowled. What the hell was wrong with that kid, anyway.

He rubbed the thin line of beard on his chin and glanced at the far wall. There was a decanter full of whiskey sitting innocently on a tray with some untouched glasses. As per tradition, it was supposed to be brandy, but. Shido liked whiskey better. So his assistants made sure to keep it full of Yamazaki 18 without him needing to ask. The thick golden brown liquid glistened under the glass, calling his name…

He shouldn’t. He still had a lot of work left to do. Besides, he’d gotten drunk the night before, that was supposed to be his one free pass for the week. He’d been half-assedly working on staying sober until the end of the election—couldn’t afford to get into any more lawsuits in some random town in the boondocks or whatever the hell had happened that one time. Shido didn’t quite recall the specifics and he didn’t care to. His lawyers handled it. But, they had enough on their plates as it was. And Shido figured the sober look suited him best when he was campaigning. So he’d been trying to swear off drinking until he won.

Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a drink every now and then just to take the edge off. He worked too hard not to indulge sometimes. When he really needed it. At first it had been once every couple of months, then once a month, now once a week. He’d already had a drink or two last night, but…

Shido scratched the top of his bald head absentmindedly. Whatever. He could have a little bit. It wasn’t like he was going to get drunk. 

He poured himself a finger of whiskey and downed it in two gulps. That bitter sting in the back of his throat was one of the few very comforts he allowed himself in life. It felt good, especially once it settled in his stomach. He’d skipped lunch and dinner that day, not having time between meetings to really eat. Besides he didn’t like eating in the middle of the day. Waste of time. He had real things to do. 

Once the glass was empty, Shido sighed and waited for the buzz to reach his head. It got there faster than he’d expected because his stomach was empty. 

Good.

He picked up his phone and checked his emails. Force of habit. If he didn’t stay on top of those things, he’d have close to a thousand at the end of a single day. He needed to stay vigilant, making sure every piece of information passed before his eyes at some point, even if it was something unimportant. He’d be the judge of that. Couldn’t trust anyone else to do it for him, to see what he saw. 

There were already about five emails waiting for him since he’d last checked a minute ago. He perused them carefully, holding the empty glass in his hand without realizing. They were routine matters. 

But no email from him…

Sighing, Shido pulled up the email thread he’d last sent Akechi. Encrypted, of course, and blind carbon copied to his main address under a certain folder. A few days ago, Shido had written:

_Nice work on the spaceship. Care to celebrate tomorrow? Come to the club. We can play a few rounds of pool, see if you’ve gotten any better. Also, I bought more of that champagne you like. _

Akechi liked melon-flavored champagne. It was disgusting, but he was a kid, so. Shido despised buying cheap (although surprisingly expensive, considering the quality!) shit like that, but it made Akechi happy. Actually happy, by Shido’s reckoning. You had to know Akechi quite well to tell if he was ever truly happy about something. His mask was firmly affixed at all times in public and even in private. When Akechi smiled that sickeningly sweet smile, eyes like half-moons, mouth smartly curved like a little prick, it didn’t mean he was feeling anything at all. But Shido respected that. Akechi, he knew, wore his mask for a reason, and that mask benefitted Shido in similar ways. So he didn’t expect anything less. 

Instead, he had learned to read moments of genuine pleasure on Akechi’s face when the kid faltered. When the smile fell. When his eyes went wide and he stumbled for a brief moment, half a second or less. Surprise. Then, a quick cover, like, “Thank you…Shido-san. How considerate.” That flicker of a reaction meant Akechi was actually touched. A rare thing, but Shido was learning how to get him there more and more. 

It didn’t take much. mostly just small tokens of Shido’s affections. An invite to his private club, a promise to spend time together. A little gift of something that Akechi actually liked. Food and drinks, usually. Once, a gun. Akechi really liked the gun Shido bought for him. It was fat and heavy in his delicate hands, especially with the silencer. Shido wondered if Akechi used it in the metaverse. 

Imagining that he did—that he used it to kill the people he was told to—got Shido off. 

The best way to make Akechi happy was with sex, obviously. The little slut loved Shido’s cock—even more than he pretended to. Shido knew enough to figure out when someone was just stroking his ego while they were fucking. Saying things like, ‘oh you’re amazing, you’re the best I’ve ever had, oh that’s so good.’ Most of the time that was all lies and Shido honestly didn’t care. It sounded good and it helped him get off so what did it matter. 

Akechi was different. He’d started with the usual, ‘Oh you’re so big, Shido-san, please put it in me.’ His face was the perfect picture of a cock-hungry nympho. Eyes turned down in pretend modesty, licking his lips again and again. Cynical and calculating, by Shido’s reckoning. But still, nice. Once they actually started fucking, though…everything changed. The first time they had sex, Akechi’s smile went too wide. His eyes too big—crazy. Laughing from his gut, then screaming. Then suddenly silent. Taking it. Tears in his eyes. Maybe they’d been fake tears at first, but by the end they weren’t. They were hot and fast. Snot coming down and the whole thing. Gasping, clinging to Shido with his nails. 

The thing he shouted when he came? Damning to say the least. Humiliating, and earnestly incriminating on a few levels. 

“Fuck me, Papa!!” And then he came hard enough to coat Shido’s chest. 

In that moment, Shido realized the kid was a lunatic. He’d already mostly known that, (the willingness to murder, the immaculately compartmentalized double life), but that orgasm was the final piece of the puzzle. Of course Akechi knew that Shido was his father—hadn’t that been the reason he’d weaseled his way into Shido’s good graces? Come on, they both knew that. They weren’t stupid. So Akechi had this whole idiotic plan to get revenge or something, and then…he threw it all away just to get laid. 

What a fool. A crazy, whorish little imbecile.

But, if he was being honest, Shido came just as hard as he did. He buried his face in Akechi’s neck and let himself go. He came like there was no tomorrow—forcing his way in as deep as he could. He’d gone boneless afterwards. Muscles loose from shooting his load hard enough that he needed to take a few minutes to pull himself together. Five minutes and a cigarette. Before he could actually speak again.

Shido still thought about that orgasm sometimes. The one he’d had that first time sleeping with his son. It was…well, when he didn’t have any other options for the night, it served him well enough. 

Fortunately though, Akechi had gotten hooked after that first time. He and Shido transmuted their relationship to include regular fucking as well as the usual business. Akechi was good at that, keeping a neutral face in front of the others and then riding him like a pro when no one was around. Excellent. Shido loved fucking him. Akechi’s body was perfect for him. Young, tight, quivering, desperate, and always ready. Akechi responded to him so well, moaning from even the gentlest touches. Offering up everything, never saying no to whatever Shido wanted to do. 

He was like his mother in that respect. 

She too had been very, _very_ good at pleasing Shido. Back then—almost twenty years ago now, damn—she was Shido’s first experience with mind-blowingly good sex. He’d had regular sex before her, of course, but once they started doing it? Forget it. Nothing compared. She was a wine girl in one of the private clubs Shido spent a lot of his time in back then (too much time, arguably, but politicians conducted meetings in brothels like anywhere else. This was how you rubbed elbows and made names for yourself. Plus, the girls had big tits and they walked around with crotch-less underwear, so. It was a win-win situation). He'd been attracted to her first because she was there, and second because she had above average looks. Quite a pretty face. Prettier than most. When Shido felt her up and suggested they go to one of the back rooms, she smiled at him and led him by the hand to just such a room. She was into him--not just getting paid for it, but actually into it. Or so Shido thought. 

She was wild. Young, slim, and down for anything. He'd never met a girl like her who did it all, you name it! He requested her again the next time he was at the club, and then again after that. He even ordered her heath services at his apartment once or twice. 

Looking back on it, that was probably his mistake. Taking her to his apartment. Amateur move. But at the time, he couldn't see past the convenience of it all. Having her around to please him whenever he wanted.

Then all of a sudden she quit the club. When Shido tried to find out why, the owners were evasive on the details. Something shady went down. But Shido didn't think much of it. She seemed like the type to have a few guys on strings. Shido prided himself in not being one of them. He was admittedly disappointed when she stopped returning his calls, but he left it at that. Didn’t dwell on it or call her begging or anything. It was her loss, he told himself. 

But…about a year later she showed up at his apartment—completely out of the blue—with a baby. An actual three month old baby. Talking about how it was his and she wanted to raise it with him, together, and how she wanted them to be a family or something. 

Insane. How could she have been so stupid? Getting pregnant like that! He thought she was on the pill or had gotten Plan B or something! Especially in her line of work! 

…The fuck was Shido supposed to do with a baby? 

He’d told her—as clear as he was able—that he wanted nothing to do with that kid. Or her, should she ever try to get back into his life. He was done. As far as he was concerned, the kid could die the next day and Shido wouldn’t even blink. He wanted no part in any kind of theoretical family. 

There was no place in his grand plan for a child. Especially one born out of wedlock, to a wine girl from a blacklisted gentleman's club. A baby? A wife? The near certainty of a career-ruining scandal? These were not things that could enter into the equation of his life. 

They were inconsequential anyway. Just one woman and one tiny human being barely able to hold its head up. He thought she would do fine raising that kid on her own (not that he would offer any money, couldn’t risk showing ties). She must have family somewhere to help her out. 

Turns out…he’d been wrong. He knew she was hurt by his rebuttal, she’d cried and gotten on all fours. Begging. (There was nothing more unattractive to Shido than emotional manipulation, trying to appeal to his better nature. Give him a fucking break.) But he thought she’d get over it. Really, he hadn’t thought she’d ever be that weak! Weak enough to kill herself…leave Akechi orphaned…without anyone in the world. Forced to grow up in a society where every single thing was stacked against him. 

Of course, Akechi had risen through the ranks anyway. In defiance of his tragic beginnings, he made a name for himself and became a pop culture celebrity (with a little bit of Shido's help, but still). He was smart, tenacious, and extremely charismatic. Just like his father. Naturally. That was a given! Of course his son would be successful in spite of all the odds. Who would have expected anything else?

This was his _son_ they were talking about.

Really, Shido hadn’t been expecting Akechi to come back into his life. After seventeen years, that baby was the last thing on his mind. But when some random kid showed up at his doorstep talking about cognitive pscience how he could make his problems go away, Shido felt something like fate stirring in background. Behind the curtain of the world, the places normal people couldn't see. Shido had felt the string attaching him to this homeless kid with the too-big smile. He'd put it in the back of his mind, but it never went away. Obviously Shido had him checked out. Akechi's history, everything. And of course he’d traced him back to that woman. 

Shido withstood the shock of finding out the truth for maybe a minute, before he laughed. He laughed at everything, the capricious nature of life, the small world they all lived in. The karma. He laughed and he was—honestly, in no other word—proud. He was damn proud of Akechi for making it this far. For rising up from the ashes and trying to ruin him. Motivated by revenge, buoyed by his own intelligence and skill. He made people like him and that's how he survived. 

Shido was proud of him. 

He wasn’t at all worried about Akechi’s little scheme. The kid was sharp—very good at killing people, scarily good, with a keen eye for seeing through bullshit—but he was just a kid. He couldn’t really take Shido down no matter how hard he tried. Especially once Shido got wise to him. 

Even so, Shido was proud of him. He never pretended not to be in his own mind. It’s what attracted him to Akechi in the first place. He’d been intrigued by him once he knew the story. 

The sex came naturally after that. Shido gave Akechi a little extra attention in meetings and Akechi started staying late. Eyeing him. Making excuses to show off his body to Shido in little, guarded ways. A dropped pen as a reason to bend over in front of him. Lingering touches to his hands. His shoulder. Biting his own lip at opportune moments. 

Shido couldn’t remember who made the first move, but sooner or later he had the kid bent over his desk. Without thinking twice. 

It didn’t bother him that they were related. Why should it? They were both men. It wasn’t like there were going to be any unwanted pregnancies or anything like that. It also wasn’t like he’d raised Akechi. They had no real bond. Other than blood, which you couldn’t help.

No hiding it either. Akechi was every bit the product of his parents. He knew how to perfectly please Shido, like his mother, and he knew how to set the world on strings. Make it dance for him. Like his father. 

Shido…appreciated Akechi for that. He would admit it—only to himself, but still. He liked Akechi. For who he was and what he did (not to mention, he was amazing at his job, setting things into motion). He liked him and he liked fucking him. He liked what they had going. 

Everything was going well, or so he thought. Akechi was always hanging around him, texting him late at night. Showing up at his office for a good lay. And sure, because he spent so much time with Shido, there were certainly occasions when Shido’s tone wasn’t as thoughtful as it could have been. That’s just who Shido was. He didn’t do relationships. The men and women he slept with (mostly women, but every once in a while there was a young guy in the melange, Shido was a hedonist at heart) always had a timer attached. A countdown on their interactions. Usually a month. Often less. 

He and Akechi had been screwing around for over a year now. 

It was the longest casual sex relationship Shido had enjoyed in quite some time. Possibly ever. It was probably because they were also working together, but…whatever the reason, they hadn’t gotten tired of each other yet.

Or at least…Shido hadn’t.

Enraged, Shido gripped his phone hard enough to crack it. He came close to breaking it, before stopping at the last second. Calm down, calm down. He needed his phone. 

Relax. His blood pressure was bad enough as it was, he couldn’t afford to get upset over something like this. He eyed the glass tumbler in his hand and poured himself another finger of whiskey. Or two. 

Feeling marginally calmer with some more whiskey in his system, Shido looked at the last email he’d sent Akechi almost two weeks ago inviting him to his club. Akechi hadn’t responded. He’d just left it hanging in the air.

It had been literal decades since the last time anyone left Shido hanging. And he’d been uncommonly generous in his offer—the club, some rounds of pool (which Akechi loved), and the champagne. He figured Akechi was angry with him. When he thought back to the last time they had sex, he’d been a little…brusque with him afterwards. 

“Can I come to your apartment tonight?” Akechi had asked, completely out of nowhere while he was putting his clothes back on. Shido had already checked out, scanning his tablet and mentally preparing for the next day. 

“My apartment?” Shido scoffed. “Why?” 

Akechi shrugged. Smiling sheepishly. “I could make you breakfast tomorrow. I’m pretty good at simple stuff. Pancakes and things like that.” 

The idea was apropos of nothing, and Shido didn’t exactly have time to entertain nonsense. Breakfast? Akechi in his apartment—what was he, crazy? They couldn’t be seen together outside of work! 

Technically though, they already had an alibi; they worked together. Anyone who saw them could be bought off or told that they were simply going over business matters. Worst case scenario, Shido could say he’d taken a liking to Akechi publicly and wanted to take him under his wing as a politician. Show him the ropes. People would accept that. It wasn’t a big deal.

But…in Shido’s mind, his apartment was out of bounds. This is where he'd gotten into trouble with his mother. Once he brought Akechi to his place, into his personal space, the kid would be all over his things. Deducing his little…assumptions or whatever. Whatever he did when he looked at something and saw to the heart of it immediately. He’d see a side of Shido the man rarely showed to anyone else: Fully relaxed. At home. Unguarded.

He didn’t know if he could afford to be unguarded around Akechi. …He had his reasons.

They weren’t there. Not yet, most likely not ever. Shido hardly ever brought anyone to his apartment. He preferred hotels, or a private room at the club, or just his office. The idea of Akechi being there—in his space, being able to read things he shouldn’t be reading—was passably ridiculous.

“Hnnh.” He scoffed and typed away at his tablet, dismissing the suggestion.

Akechi stood there, undaunted. “So I can come over then?”

“I didn’t say that,” Shido snapped. “Don’t put words in my mouth.” He _hated_ when people did that—people in general, but Akechi most of all. Because Akechi was nothing if not manipulative. Really, he should know Shido better by now. 

Awkward silence hung in the air. Shido could feel himself getting angry, but he couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. That just got him even angrier. Who was Akechi to rile him like this? A nobody, just some kid, a hanger-on like the rest—

“Oh. You don’t want me there. Is that it?” Akechi’s voice was low. Airy, but deep. The way it got when he was also irritated. 

“You’re the brilliant detective.” Shido grunted. A dry, forced sound. “You tell me.” 

He didn’t look Akechi in the eye when he said it. Just kept staring at his tablet. Had that comment offended him? So what! Shido had more important things to give his attention to. He sincerely hoped Akechi was done wasting his time. 

Eventually, the kid muttered a weak “Right,” and walked out. Saying nothing else.

By the following evening, Shido realized he hadn’t heard from Akechi all day. That was unusual. Normally Akechi texted him at least once during the day. To let him know that he’d entered the metaverse (in their coded language, which only they could read) or that he’d completed a mission. Or that he’d made an appearance on television that Shido might be interested in (usually about the phantom thieves). Or whatever—that he was horny and wanted to fuck. Akechi texted him dirty things all the time and it was entertaining. A welcome respite from a laundry list of meetings and daily duties. He’d told Akechi in person that he wished he would stop abusing his encrypted phone privileges, secretly hoping that Akechi did no such thing. He actually loved Akechi’s texts, they gave him something to look forward to. He read them over and over with a lewd smirk pulling his lips. 

Although, he’d never admit that to the kid’s face. Not even if he was pressed. 

Regardless, it was weird that Akechi hadn’t texted him. Shido waited until midnight before breaking his own rule and texting first. He’d had a drink or two and he starting to miss Akechi’s body. That brat’s persistent voice rang in his ears, (“Ah, fuck—! Like that—! Sh-shit, I can’t—! Hold me, Papa, please!”). Shido’s cock—whose intuition he had learned to trust completely—knew what it wanted. 

**S: ** _Come to the office. My schedule is light tonight. _

A clear invitation for sex. Shido sipped whiskey, scrolled idly through his emails and waited. He waited ten minutes, then twenty, then an hour. Akechi was _never_ this late in replying to him.

**S: ** _Maybe my text didn’t go through. I’m telling you to come to my office. Now. _

Telling, not asking. Shido wasn’t the most patient man in the world. Besides, he was starting to get hard and it would be a shame to waste it. The later it got, the more tired Shido got, the more he wanted Akechi in his lap. On his dick. 

Still no reply.

Another hour and Shido was beside himself with rage. Was cell phone service shitty? Yet another thing he needed to fix about this country—spotty service! Did Shido really need to do everything himself?

He tried one more time.

**S: ** _Text me as soon as you get this._

No, but the message was reading as ‘delivered’ underneath. That meant it must have gone through.

Was Akechi…ignoring him? Shido couldn’t remember ever being purposely ignored! For a moment it was almost cute. A new feeling, kind of interesting. But then he realized that meant he wouldn’t get to enjoy Akechi’s body until the kid deemed it acceptable. Shido instantly hated that. 

He called him. Grinding his teeth in anger, which he hadn’t done in years. 

It rang out. He got his first taste of that message: _“The number you have dialed 656-xxx-xxxx is not available to take your call. Please leave your message after the tone.”_

Oh, Akechi was going to get it the next time they fucked! Shido didn’t care the reason his son had decided to do this to him—it was absolutely unacceptable! Sure, it was kind of hot imagining the ways Shido would make him pay…in fact, that’s how Shido cured his blue ball situation that night. Thinking of suitable punishments. How he would deliver them. Conjuring up memories of Akechi’s vulnerable voice—that first orgasm—it served him well again. 

The following day, Akechi showed up for a meeting they had scheduled months ago. Like normal. Not a hair out of place. Making eye contact with Shido confidently, speaking like he always did. Agreeing to their machinations, offering his two cents. Not paying any extra attention to Shido—not loosening his tie around his neck, showing off the marks Shido had left there days ago. Not brushing his thigh under the table accidentally on purpose. Nothing. 

Shido was floored. What impertinent behavior! Unbelievable!

“Akechi-kun.” He asked his son to stay after the meeting. When they were alone, he got ready to berate him. He was really going to let him have it—

But the calm, casual look of feigned curiosity on Akechi’s face stopped him. If Akechi was pretending to be indifferent about all this, then…Shido would look weak if he seemed upset. He couldn’t abide that. 

“Did you get my messages last night?” Shido asked, curling his hands together. Tempering his anger with images of what he would do to make Akechi pay. 

And that fucking kid—the kid just smiled at him. He smiled his dead, saccharine smile, gathered his things and walked out. 

Shido stared at the door stupidly for several minutes. Not believing the evidence of his own eyes. Had…Akechi just walked out on him? Seriously? That’s what just happened?

No one—no one in a thousand million years, since the waters in all the oceans in the world had formed—walked out on Shido Masayoshi. It just didn’t happen! People knew better than that! To think that his son—of all people!—would be foolish enough to try. Walking out on him! That wasn’t how the world worked! Again, it just didn’t happen.

….Now that it had happened though, Shido was honestly stumped. What should he do? He could send the cleaner to go and kill him. That seemed like the most logical thing. Akechi was a wild card. He’d gone too far off the deep end this time. He was out of control! That was a very bad thing. It made sense for the cleaner to handle this.

Even though, losing Akechi would mean they lost their edge in the metaverse. They couldn’t have that. There were more matters that needed Akechi’s particular set of skills. It was too soon to dispose of him. 

So, then…Shido would simply…

Well, he would…

…what? What would he do? 

Suddenly, for the first time in god only knew how long, Shido was at a loss. He didn’t have a leg to stand on. The worst thing he could do to Akechi (besides kill him, which was out of reach, and seemed a tad extreme considering the circumstances), was ignore him. Revoke access to his person, the thing Akechi craved most of all. But, now that Akechi had taken that away first…what leverage did Shido really have over him? 

He couldn’t make his life miserable. Akechi needed to be personally successful in order for his shiny veneer to properly mask what he did in the shadows. So Shido couldn’t ruin him in any way, professional or personal.

He couldn’t even exact all those fascinating little revenge scenarios he’d cooked up, because Akechi didn’t answer his texts the following night either! 

He was stumped.

The ironic thing? In times like this, Shido’s usual strategy was to ask for advice from a certain accomplished schemer. Someone who didn’t mind going to absurd lengths to make sure there were no loose ends left dangling. And that person was exactly the one Shido couldn’t reach.

After several days with no messages (and no sex) Shido wracked his brains and tried to think of a reason for his son’s behavior. The only thing he came up with was the annoying conversation they’d had that one morning. When Akechi asked to go his place and Shido promptly bit his head off. That was nothing! Hardly even worth remembering! How impossibly sensitive could his son be, holding comments like that against him.

Then again, this was that woman’s son. Not only that, but Akechi’s history was long. And…detailed. Shido had done enough digging to get the picture.

So, well. Maybe in that case.

Blue balling worse than ever before, and still at a loss for options, Shido drafted a long email:

_I realize my comments the other morning were a bit insensitive. If you’re insistent on the issue of staying over my apartment, then I can potentially be persuaded to revisit the subject. In a few months time, once the election is finished._

_Now if you would please stop acting like a petulant child and answer your damn phone. _

Shit, that was long for Shido! He couldn’t remember ever taking the time to write something this long to one of his paramounts. Akechi should count himself lucky! And he would, surely. He’d see Shido’s generosity and he’d come crawling back. He must have been hard up for the sex just as much Shido—probably even more! Knowing him, he was hurting bad. 

…Good. It was settled, then. 

To his chagrin, another whole day passed with no reply. Akechi had to be shitting him! Was this some kind of joke? A ludicrous prank? 

Impossible. They didn’t joke about their relationship. Their arrangement was a burning, delicious secret, and they perpetuated it with their own dedication to the madness. It wasn’t a joke. Akechi was…pissed. How could that be? How could he hold something against him—_him_? Enough to stop their communication and put an end to the sex. How could Akechi drop the sex?! What was he, an idiot? Did he think sex that good just grew on trees? What they had was something unique and vulgar; you couldn't replicate that so easily! Shido thought Akechi was hooked on it just as much as he was—he’d thought they were at place where silly comments didn’t matter. Or at least, where Shido’s comments didn’t matter. 

He’d thought…

What had he thought. Shido honestly hadn’t thought a hell of a lot about their relationship. He’d seen it as mutually beneficial in a variety of ways. Fun and self-sustaining, the kind of thing Shido didn’t need to work for. He’d never worked for anyone before. The idea put a sour taste in his mouth. 

He needed to drink to wash it down. 

Now it was over a month since the last time they’d been intimate. Since Akechi started effectually ghosting Shido. It was the worst. He drafted new emails, sent them in hopes that something he said might shake Akechi out of this slump. Bring him to his senses. At the very least, Akechi was still working for him. He carried out all his duties with the utmost efficiency, as always. Namely, he killed Okumura and framed it on the phantom thieves perfectly. It was flawless. Shido honestly wanted to take time to congratulate Akechi, but…he was still getting the silent treatment.

_Still_.

Every day he ruminated on a way out of this. He considered several times just ending Akechi once and for all. Or publicly shaming him. It would ruin his plans, but it would be fulfilling….

…No it wouldn’t. Shido couldn’t lie to himself about that. He didn’t want to destroy Akechi. Not just his plans, but also part of his pride was predicated on Akechi’s success. He liked knowing that his son was popular. That he was winning at life. That made Shido feel…good. Or, something like good, anyway. He didn’t know the exact word for it. Not bad. He could settle on that. It made him feel not bad. And because he felt not bad, he wouldn’t have it any other way. Because that would be…well. The words didn’t really matter. The point is, he wouldn’t do it. 

He didn’t want to ruin Akechi. He just wanted to fuck him.

He _needed_ to.

After almost two months of radio silence, Shido was at his wits’ end. (More like, his balls’ end. Their functional limit. The maximum strain they could withstand.) He needed to fuck _someone_ or he would go out of his mind. Fortunately, he had a long list of people hanging on his every word, ready to fuck if Shido so much as snapped his fingers. Hangers-on and clingy fucks. 

(Akechi was nothing like them. Shido had been wrong to assume that he was. That was his biggest mistake.) 

He found the number of a woman he used to go out with. She was thin and pretty, with a stable career as a software editor. He’d met her at a party. She was the sister of one of his colleagues. She was serially monogamous and perpetually single, his colleague explained. Shido read that for what it was: Lonely as hell. He’d hardly had to do anything to get her into bed, just flashed her a smile and toasted her in front of a small group of people. She turned red up to her ears and put out mere minutes later. Panties on the ground, ankles above her head. She let him do anal that very first night. An easy win—almost too easy. 

Shido vaguely remembered the sex being good though. Or, he was pretty sure it was. He’d had a lot to drink that night. But still, he came, right? That was good enough! Just being able to cum inside a warm, willing body would make him feel better. 

Or, he thought it would. (Being repeatedly wrong was starting to make Shido irritable.)

He called the woman, took her out to dinner (a rare treat), and promptly fucked her in her car. The angle was difficult, and his back was a little stiff (he wasn’t a young man anymore, he’d let his impatience get the better of him trying to fuck in the car like some high schooler). So he’d only managed to penetrate her for a few minutes before he lost his erection and they needed to stop. She was understanding, the perfect thing. She drove them to her place and they had sex there. This time for real. Shido laid her in the bed, held her feet over her head like he remembered doing that night, and fucked her good. She moaned—not as beautifully as…other people, but, not bad. She even held her own legs up for him when Shido got tired of doing it. 

Before he came, he realized that he hadn’t put on a condom. She told him it was fine, she was on the pill, not to worry. Shido wanted to believe her but…

How could he? How could he trust any woman who said that to him now? With his luck, she was lying and then she’d get pregnant…and then he’d have another kid he didn’t want, and soon enough he’d have another Akechi situation on his hands. He couldn’t afford to go through that with someone else—waiting by the phone like a pathetic idiot, trying to find some way to make it up to him. Shido wasn’t wired like that—he couldn’t please people the way they wanted him to. He couldn’t fucking do it! 

So, in spite of what she said, Shido pulled out and just jerked off onto her stomach. He managed to cum, keeping his eyes closed and imagining his cock sheathed in a tight ass. Finally, he got there. It was a bigger load than he expected (he hadn’t cum in a while) so it made a mess. She was a little disappointed, but who cared. He put his pants back on, offered to pay her laundry bill, and got out of there. Ignoring her invitation to stay the night or even for one more drink. 

…It wasn’t a failed encounter. No, not at all. He’d come, hadn’t he? Wasn’t that the whole point of having sex? Getting a good orgasm? What else was there, really? He’d finished in the end, so. It was good. He’d done just fine. Attended to his needs. Taken care of business. Now he could focus better on work.

So then…why did he feel like shit? 

That night, Shido went straight him and took a long shower. He checked his emails for the umpteenth time—nothing new—and had a large glass of whiskey. With some Klonopin. (The Klonopin was fairly new. He’d started taking it a few months ago when his sleeping habits went to shit. His personal doctor wrote him a prescription, telling him that he needed his rest most of all, and Shido just took it without asking too many questions. The doctor could be trusted. He owed Shido, after all. Shido had fixed it so that he was the only doctor in the running for a prestigious award the year before. Not to mention Shido’s shadow company was bankrolling his private practice. So, the doctor had a lot riding on Shido’s success. As did everyone, really…anyway, he took the damn drugs. They helped him sleep. Cooled his brain down. He needed that sometimes. That was it.) 

When morning came, absolutely nothing had changed. Maybe that’s why Shido felt so shitty. He thought going out and having sex would cure him of the weird fixation he had with hearing Akechi’s voice again. Or sitting him in his lap. Or that little line of drool that slipped out of Akechi’s mouth when he got so into the sex he lost himself…Shido thought he would’ve forgotten all that by now. 

He shouldn’t care so much. He had no business caring even half as much as he did. Akechi was nothing! The illegitimate son of a prostitute! A broken maniac, society's refuse! He was just…Shido's son. His lover. The one person Shido could go to for advice or conversation, who knew Shido inside and out. Like the back of his hand. Who could manage Shido’s every need with uncanny efficiency…who had Shido’s grand plan wrapped around his little finger. Akechi was the piece that made or broke the plan. He would always have that power, as long as he had his persona and his metacognitive abilities. Not only that, he could take Shido’s dick better than anyone else in the world. So he was…indispensable. To a point. 

Shido was on his last nerve. 

Completely out of options, he cheated. He figured that there was a possibility Akechi’s attention was being commandeered. That his loyalties were at stake. Neither of those were things Shido could stomach, so he asked the cleaner to have one of his men stalk Akechi. Not stalk, there wasn’t any feeling behind the detail. Just follow him. Take pictures. See where Akechi was going every day (while he wasn’t going to Shido’s office to get dick). 

The stalking detail turned up…surprising results. Akechi was spending most of his free time at a cafe in Yongenjaya. At first Shido thought it was one of his endless photo opportunities. A hole in the wall he could use to take a trendy picture of himself drinking expensive crap and post it on his blog. Akechi was a viral phenomenon so he needed to keep up appearances. But, the detail said that Akechi went to the cafe almost every day after school. Every day? That wasn’t just a photo opportunity. Akechi was up to something over there.

He had the detail stake out the place. There seemed to be two people, sometimes three, coming in and out on a regular basis. The shop owner, a middle aged guy who looked strangely familiar to Shido but he couldn’t place him, and his adopted daughter. A scrawny, glasses girl. Then, there was another kid that it took some digging to get any information on. Turned out, he was just some criminal trash—he had a record, people said, and the shop owner took him in on a whim. He lived in the attic. A freeloader and a delinquent. 

That kid was about Akechi’s age. Shaggy black hair and glasses. Tall, lanky, with an unusual kind of charm. Awkward but not unconfident. He’d bloomed too quickly, Shido surmised, and now he stood out among others his age. Shido knew someone else like that…

Akechi hung out with this black-haired boy on the regular. There were pictures of them playing chess together, going to the diner in Shibuya to study, walking around Yongenjaya talking. Just…_talking_. Talking and talking! Shido flipped through the pictures with so much rage his hands quivered. 

Who the hell was this kid? Why did he monopolize so much of Akechi’s attention? What was so damn special about him, first of all, and also what gave him the right—

Worse yet, the black-haired kid (Ren, his name was) rolled with a group of similarly awkward punks. Misfits, generally speaking. Akechi had sort of folded himself into their group. They ate meals together and joked around. Smiling. Akechi too! Fucking smiling and laughing—a few of those laughs were genuine, Shido saw. To his horror.

He gripped the pictures so hard they crinkled under his fingers. His mind was going in all the wrong directions. But he couldn’t help it. There were so many guys in that group. Was Akechi…fucking one of them? Or, all of them? What about the girls? Had he fucked them too? The idea of his son sleeping with a girl was positively laughable—it made Shido want to laugh so hard his gut hurt—but Akechi did have a reputation to uphold. What the hell did teenage girls know? If he fucked one of them, he’d be terrible, and they’d hardly know the difference. They were low-risk fucks. Akechi must surely have deduced that by now too.

…Those little cunts, Shido thought. What did Akechi even like about them? The way they looked in a skirt? As if! Akechi had worn a skirt once or twice for Shido’s pleasure, there was no way he’d look at a girl in the same way.

Alright, so not the girls then. But the guys. Akechi _must_ be fucking one of them! He had to be getting his rocks off somewhere! Otherwise he would explode, like Shido had! And shit. If it was any one of those losers, it was probably that black-haired one. Ren Whatever the Hell. Some criminal trash who lived in an attic!

Shido thought about having Ren killed. His mind naturally went in that direction these days (it was too easy having cold-blooded assassins working for him, he was getting spoiled). He should just off the snot-nosed brat. Make it look like an accident. Remove any and all competition—fuck, what? _Competition_? That asshole kid? Impossible! How could that kid hold a candle to Shido? For god’s sake, Shido owned Tokyo—he owned everything! He’d be prime minister soon and then the whole world would acknowledge him as a leader…

…what did that kid Ren have that Shido possibly could not? What, was it his penis? What was that kid packing under those checkered uniform pants? Was it really that good? How was it better than Shido’s—there was no earthly way it could be bigger, so why….or was it his personality? Did Akechi like his immature little moves? Did he like when Ren called him Akechi-kun, or Goro, even? 

(Goro…like that time Shido called him that and watched a shiver course all the way through him. From his scalp to his toes. ‘_Goro_.’) 

Did Goro like being with someone his own age who cared about the happenings of high school? Festivals and grades and exams and all that terribly boring stuff. Did Goro like a younger man who was just as flexible and pliant as him when they had sex? Did Ren have the kind of stamina Shido had when he was that age—could he go three times a night (something Shido hadn’t been able to do once he turned forty, quite a long time ago now)? Five times? Ten times? As many times as it took?

Apparently, they played chess together a lot. Was Goro impressed by that? Why didn’t he just say so? Shido was fucking amazing at chess! Go, too. And shogi. He played all those games and won every time. He could certainly win against that delinquent idiot, and he could teach Goro if he really wanted…

…This was getting out of hand. Shido recognized that. He was losing his carefully maintained distance. He was getting himself involved in the goings-on of the masses. He was a clockmaker pretending to be a cog. Trying to fit himself into the mundane, foolish lives of ordinary people. Shido was so far above them it was comical to compare. But even so, Goro had chosen to be with them rather than him…

This couldn’t go on. Shido would need to either excise Goro completely—kill him, fire him, destroy him, one of those—or he needed to drag that kid back into his metaphorical bed. Kicking and screaming if he had to! He needed to come up with a plan. An offer so tempting Goro couldn’t turn it down. Something he was lacking that no one else in the world could give him except Shido. If it wasn’t sex, then something else! 

….which was, what, exactly? What did Goro want? What did he need? How could Shido set himself apart from the hordes of sheeple on the street? If he hadn’t already, then it was hopeless! He’d done so much with his life and his career! He was the kid’s own damn father! If that didn’t impress Goro then…then…

The sun was starting to set. Shido rubbed his face. He wasn’t drunk. He was just a little buzzed. Comfortably so. He should probably go and get some dinner (otherwise he would be drunk soon enough). 

But first, he should call Goro one more time. Just call him. Maybe he’d leave a message this time and explain that if there were some hidden parameters in all this that Goro needed to state them clearly. Be a man. Tell him his conditions. So that at least Shido knew what he was working with! Fair play was fair play, after all. 

He dialed Goro’s number. Trying to choose his words and failing every time he came to the word, ‘please.’ There would be no ‘please’ in this message. Shido didn’t say please—he’d long ago abandoned that word and the mindset that went with it, he was a different sort of man entirely—and he wasn’t about to start now. He’d find a work around in there somehow so he didn’t have to say it. Something smart and composed. He would think of it, he just—

“…Hello?” 

Wh-what—? 

“Hello? Are you there?” 

__________________________________________________

_This strawberry shortcake inspired mille feuille is to die for! The whipped cream and strawberry jam swirling through the second layer is a surprising touch! You’re expecting crust and then some sweet, creamy goodness explodes in your mouth. I might have shouted ‘yum!’ by accident! Forgive me, wait staff~~! _

Akechi merrily typed away on his phone, snapping pictures of his cake from all angles. This mille feuille was the hottest thing this week, according to all the other food blogs. So of course he had to try it! And he hadn’t been disappointed! It was so picturesque and perfect. No doubt that this cake was created for the virtue of the selfie. 

Like all the rest, really. 

_Taste: Five stars_  
_Mouth Feel: Four stars_  
_Price: Two stars  
_ _Calories: …don’t think about it!!_

He dabbed the whipped cream at the corner of his mouth and kept typing. 

_Personally, I’m completely satisfied with this cake. It’s a little pricey (and it will ruin your diet for sure!) but as a special treat it’s definitely worth the trip! _

_Thanks for the food~~! Until next time, fellow foodies! _

He took a fabulous selfie, giving his fans a wink and a peace sign. Oh, he shouldn’t have wiped the cream off his cheek first. He was sure a lot of these losers—his _adoring_ fan base—liked a little bit of sex appeal with these posts. Because of course they would. So, he scooped some cream onto his finger and smeared it on his cheek again. Making it look like an accident. 

Posted. Good, that was one thing off his to-do list for today. Now he could actually enjoy this cake. For what it was worth. 

Akechi ate it slowly, swiping through his emails while he ate. He had approximately eight minutes before he needed to move on to his next appointment. So he would sure as hell enjoy these next eight minutes. It felt good sometimes just to sit. 

Hmm. Honestly, the cake was okay. Akechi liked sweet things, but this was a little too much. Whatever. He was hungry. He’d saved up for a week to afford this. It might seem frivolous, but actually it was an important part of his image. Maintaining his fanbase. So he _needed_ to afford it. And that meant this was his lunch, and probably dinner too.

Akechi saw an email from Shido. His thumb hovered over the message, ready to delete it. He should delete it. Shido never emailed him for anything strictly business. And lately he’d been blowing up Akechi’s phone with emails asking to get together. So it was probably another one of those.

Worthless. He really shouldn’t look…just delete it. Delete it, delete it…

He kept swiping. Whatever, he didn’t have to delete it now. He’d look at it later. 

Always later. 

Akechi was in the process (the long, painstaking process) of trying his absolute hardest to cut Shido out of his life. At least, the extra things. Specifically, the sex. Akechi had fallen down the rabbit hole with that—it was an accident! Honestly, he hadn’t meant for it to ever go this far—and now he was trying to climb his way out. 

It all started one day when he noticed Shido staring at him. Shortly after Akechi started working for him. Shido’s eyes fixed on Akechi’s body—those certain places. His ass, his crotch. Up and down, up and down. Oh, Akechi knew that look. He knew it very well. 

Shido was into him. 

At first blush, Akechi thought it was hilarious! Shido was attracted to his own son—if only the papers knew about that! People would be disgusted, horrified! It would destroy Shido instantly and wouldn’t that be the best revenge? A better end than anything Akechi could have cooked up, even if you gave him a lab and all the time in the world. Fitting. Shido getting destroyed by the incessant appetite of his own dick. That dick had destroyed his mother and now it would destroy the man himself! 

Akechi loved it. As for the final feather in his cap, he would sleep with Shido and have blackmail material for the rest of the known universe. And it would be _easy_. Shido was already hard for him! 

Akechi didn’t mind seducing Shido. He didn’t even really mind sleeping with him. Let’s face it, he’d been fucked for worse reasons before. Nothing new there.

So he’d done it. Gotten Shido so riled that he bent Akechi over his desk and fucked him right there! So scandalous! Of course, that was to be expected for an animal like Shido, but. Akechi was surprised how well his plan worked!

He thought he’d lay it on thick. Really get Shido hooked. So that he would have nothing to say later about Akechi being a disappointing lay or how he’d only done it to appease him or anything like that. No. He wanted Shido to cum hard and he wanted it to be _good_…

At least, he wanted it to be good for Shido…

He’d wanted…

Once they started fucking, Akechi realized he’d made a big mistake. Having sex with Shido was…good. Not just good, but _great_! Fantastic, amazing. Feeling his father inside him satisfied a longing Akechi had been carrying around for years without even knowing. He could feel his father’s hot dick throbbing in his ass, could see the look of pleasure on his face, could feel his hands holding him…

…Oh shit, it turned Akechi on like nothing else. All at once, he was caught up in his own trap. Shido was fucking his brains out and Akechi’s plans scattered to the winds. He let them go like little scraps of paper. Clung to Shido for dear life, as his father rode him to an orgasm that honestly scared him.

He hadn’t meant to say it. To call Shido…that. It was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him, and yet…it was also the most satisfying thing Akechi could have ever dreamed of. Feeling liked, feeling lov—fuck, no he couldn’t say that word. Not _that_, but…wanted. Feeling wanted by his father. The most powerful man in Japan and the man Akechi had spent his whole life trying to get. Shido’s want was an aphrodisiac and a benediction. It went straight to Akechi’s head. He was cumming like a slut before he could stop it. 

The sex blew his goddamn mind. He cried and humiliated himself, and Shido just…held him. It was good. It was _so_ good.

All of a sudden, Akechi couldn’t live without it. 

He was so stupid! He should have known this would happen to him (for god’s sake, he knew he had a thing for older guys, why wouldn’t he have a thing for his own father?). He shouldn’t have gotten greedy and tried to get that kind of clinching evidence against Shido. He had enough already, why did he have to go for the smoking gun?

It was a mess.

They had sex all the time. Akechi wished he could say it was part of some plan, but that was a total lie. The truth was, he loved it. 

You see. The problem with Akechi—and he knew this—was that his world existed almost entirely inside the cramped space between his ears. His own mind. He lived the bulk of his life in there—everything on the outside was window dressing. A means to an end. Sometimes, when he got an idea that he couldn’t let go, his mind got carried away. He’d start imagining things that weren’t true. Living out fantasies. Like play pretend, but much more pathetic than that. He was eighteen years old already. Come on. 

Shido knew he was Akechi’s father. They’d talked about it once or twice. It was far less of a dramatic revelation than it probably should have been. Shido seemed to know everything way before Akechi even bothered to admit it. Apparently he’d looked into Akechi’s history and discovered the truth. Of course. Akechi should have known.

That…didn’t hurt as much as it should have. His plans were all destroyed, but…on another level, Akechi started thinking. Thinking and thinking. If Shido was fucking him—they’d been together for almost a year—and he knew the truth about Akechi, then maybe that meant…maybe he was thinking about the future. 

Maybe there was space for Akechi in the exclusive, well-manicured maze of Shido’s life. 

He shouldn’t have let himself imagine that. A life. Going to Shido’s apartment. Sleeping there, even. Waking up together and having a morning like…well, like, you know. They could eat meals together, catch up at the end of the day. Get to know each other—Akechi wanted to see the other side of Shido. What he looked like when he was sleeping. What he liked to eat. Picking out clothes in the morning, getting into the shower at night…he thought…

He’d thought they were already there. His mind had made it all up. 

Of course.

When he asked to go over Shido’s apartment—ready for the answer to be yes—Shido instead delivered a cutting blow. 

_‘Don’t put words in my mouth.’_

…Right. Of course Shido didn’t want him in his apartment. Akechi was just a fuck toy to him. Like all the others. Of course. Of course, of course, he was so stupid…

…Akechi cried that night. Alone, in his apartment. He told himself he was crying because he was so mad at himself. He’d laid a trap and fallen into it, like a fool. He was better than this! So, so much better! How could he let himself get caught up in Shido’s nonsense when he was the one—the only one—who would bring him down…

He was so mad at himself. 

It didn’t really hurt. It didn’t. Akechi was beyond hurt. He wasn’t _hurt_. He’d mastered his feelings a long time ago and now he was just, well…

He wasn’t hurt. No. 

He just needed to end it.

Alright, fine. He’d continue working for Shido for the sake of the plan. But he wouldn’t sleep with him anymore. It fucked with his head too much. He needed to end it. Once and for all. Cut it out of his life.

He was done. 

Ignoring Shido’s texts wasn’t as scary as he thought it’d be. In fact, it felt powerful. Fuck Shido. He could go straight to hell for all Akechi cared—he ignored all his texts and sent all his calls to voicemail. Never even opened the emails, telling himself he’d delete them later.

Although, he had to admit he was surprised by Shido’s reaction. He thought Shido wouldn’t even notice if Akechi stopped going to his office for sex. Didn’t Shido have, like, tons of people he could fuck? Akechi wasn’t special. He’d made that perfectly clear! 

So then, why…why was Shido calling and texting him so much? That wasn’t like him. He scolded Akechi for using the phone for anything other than work. Now, here was Shido, breaking his own rules…

Maybe Shido liked the sex more than he realized…maybe he actually missed—

No, that couldn’t be. That was more fantasy written by Akechi’s own imagination. This was all a power thing for Shido, just like everything else. He didn’t like not having Akechi at his beck and call. He didn’t like not being the one in control. That was it. He didn’t give a shit about Akechi, he just wanted to order him around. Like a pet or something. 

Well. Fuck him. 

Akechi sat in the cafe eating his mille feuille, ignoring emails and trying to take eight minutes to enjoy the subtle beauty of whipped cream and sitting down—

His phone rang again,

It was Shido.

Again? Really? 

Hadn’t he called just twenty minutes ago? 

Akechi eyed his phone warily. This was weird. Shido _never_ called him this close together. He hardly ever called to begin with, now two calls in the same hour! What, was this an emergency or something? It had to be. That’s the only thing that made sense! Something horrible had happened in their grand plan and now Shido really needed him—

As the phone rang, Akechi weighed his options. He might—just might—have the temerity to let Shido sweat a little. He needed Akechi, but hey, Akechi was busy! He had a food blog to run and…other stuff, too! He could say, ‘Oh, my apologies, Shido-san, I was working,’ and pretend he’d never heard the phone. Let would show him! Then he’d realize how indispensable Akechi was, not like the other idiots under his thumb.

The idea of saying that got Akechi a little hot. Exciting.

…But, still. Two calls in one hour? That was unheard of. Something really serious must be going on. And if it was that serious then maybe Akechi’s life was in danger, or Shido’s was, or there was something he really needed to know. Something urgent. And if Shido really, _really_ needed him, then…

Oh, goddamn it.

He picked up the phone. “Hello?”

Silence. What was this, a pocket dial? Was Shido capable of something so ridiculous? Probably not. Akechi listened hard for Shido’s voice.

“Hello? Are you there?”

_______________________________________________

Shido couldn’t believe it—Goro actually answered! A swarm of excitement and unanticipated anxious energy flooded Shido. He very nearly leapt to his feet.

“Goro?” he barked into the phone. “Is that…you?” 

“…Uh? Y-yes?” Akechi’s voice was a nervous whisper. Genuinely taken aback, Shido could tell. Well he’d said his first name accidentally. Because he had been thinking about it…

Anyway. 

Shido sighed and leaned back in his chair. Too relieved to leave any quarter for his pride. But he didn’t even really care in that moment. He rubbed the corners of his eyes, underneath his glasses. This fucking kid. This kid would be the death of him.

“You finally answered your phone. I thought I told you never to ignore my calls,” Shido drawled. 

“Well, you know…I was working.” 

Hmm. Shido considered that and figured it was probably true. Akechi was a busy person after all. They both were. So that was fair enough, he supposed. 

“What did you want? Is something wrong?” Straight to the point.

Shido frowned. “No, everything’s fine. Why wouldn’t it be?” 

“Uh, w-well…” Akechi’s voice wavered. He sounded uncertain. “You called me twenty minutes ago. It thought it might be an emergency.” 

Oh. That. Shido folded his lips into his mouth and considered his answer. Had it only been twenty minutes since his last call? He’d lost track of time?

He took another sip of whiskey and waved all that away. Inconsequential. He had his reasons for calling so many times, damn it. “The only emergency is your flagrant disregard for protocol. It’s embarrassing, Akechi-kun. Very unprofessional. In the future, don’t ignore your phone. At all. Ever. You hear me?” 

That should bring him to task…

To his chagrin, Akechi just sighed. Heavily. “Fine. Whatever you say. Now what is it? I have places to be.” 

That…fucking little…!

Shido fought back the growl in his throat. This was counter-productive. He’d called to make Akechi an offer, hadn’t he? Now his temper was getting the better of him. Yet again. That’s how this whole mess started. 

Shido took off his glasses and rubbed his face. Damn, damn, damn. He needed to remember the last month. How…dreary things had been without Akechi hanging around. That weird limbo of not having him whenever he wanted. He’d called because he wanted to prove that he was the best thing Akechi ever had, or would ever. He needed to make…gestures. As much as that stung his pride, Shido knew how people worked. He was the puppet master after all. He knew how to get people on his side. People liked big garish displays and money. Lavish gifts, vacations, expensive cars. Fancy clothes. 

Akechi had to like one of those things. 

…Right?

So, okay. He pulled at the skin around his beard and made an offer. This was a business arrangement, a quid pro quo. Now he needed to put his cards on the table. 

“Alright. I realize that I’ve been…torn in a lot of different directions lately. My attention hasn’t always been as undivided as it could be when you’re around. I realize that, alright? I do.” 

Silence.

This fucking kid…! What was he waiting for, a royal invitation?

“So anyway…” Shido bit his tongue and swallowed his pride. This was his final play. “…I can…I’m willing to hear suggestions if you have something in mind. Something that might balance the scale as far as your needs are concerned. Just tell me what it is you want and I’ll…consider it.” 

“Uh…” Wow, Akechi was so articulate today, wasn’t he? “Um…so, just to be clear…what are we talking about right now?” 

Oh goddamn it! How clear did Shido have to be? “We’re talking about you! You seem to have some unmet personal conditions in this arrangement between the two of us. So, in the name of fair play, I’d like to know what they are.” 

“Personal…conditions? Are you asking me to tell you something that…I want?”

“Yes, obviously!” Why did Akechi have to pretend to be dumb? Just to damage Shido’s pride even further! “What is it? Go ahead. I’m listening, but only for the next two minutes. So hurry up.” 

“Wait, wait. Do you mean…? Hang on a second.” 

Extremely put out, Shido listened as there was shuffling on the line. Akechi getting up and moving somewhere else. Presumably somewhere more private. At least the kid had enough sense for that. He shouldn’t have even used Shido’s real name in public, but…oh well.

“Hello?” Finally, he was back. There was less noise on the other end now.

“One minute,” Shido barked. Drumming his fingers on his desk.

“Okay, so. Are you asking me to tell you the reason why I’ve been avoiding your calls? And texts and everything?” 

That…kind of…it felt like an arrow shot to his side. Straight in. Sticking out of him, evidence of his wound. There was a level of pain in hearing Akechi acknowledge his ludicrous treatment of Shido this past month. The man himself didn’t know where it came from. 

Akechi was full of all kinds of surprises. Hidden weapons, pitfalls. A long memory and a short fuse. Things Shido needed to watch out for. 

It would have pissed him off even more, if it didn’t make him so damn proud of that kid. He really was his son. 

Fuck.

“No, I don’t care about that,” Shido assured him. Lying. “What I’d like to hear are the requirements that satisfy whatever might have been lacking for you. So we can dispense with this nonsense once and for all.” 

“Well, I mean…I just…” Akechi sighed a few times. Clicked his teeth. He was struggling to come out with it. “I guess I just…wanted to spend more time with you. That’s…that’s really it, I think.” 

Shido closed his eyes. He should have known. On some level, he already did. “…I know,” he said quietly. Conceding that. 

“But it’s not like…” Akechi continued. “It’s not like I’m oblivious to reality, okay? I wasn’t born with my eyes closed. I know exactly the kind of man you are, Shido-san.” 

His voice was dark. Lower than Shido had ever heard before. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. This was an interesting side to the kid. Shido kind of liked it, except it pissed him off that Akechi was making all these assumptions about him. Putting words in his mouth again—a whole personality! 

“What do you know?” Shido hissed. “You don’t know anything about me. I’ll prove it to you!” 

In a fit of blind rage, he ripped open his laptop and pulled up his travel page. All his personal information was pre-selected, he just needed to input the details. He knew the exact destination. He’d been saving this for years now. Never certain he would ever actually use it (since he never indulged in things like this, normally). And yeah, it would set him back quite a lot, but right now this was the perfect move! The ace up his sleeve. 

He ordered the tickets immediately and pulled up that magical phone number. The one other people would kill to get their hands on. 

“Laucala Island. You’ve heard of it?” Shido dialed the number on his landline. He wanted his office number to be recognizable. 

“Um…what?” Akechi hadn’t caught up yet. “No, I have no idea what that is—”

“It’s a resort in Fiji. Only elites are allowed access. To rent the hilltop villa—one of the finest, most luxurious resorts in the world, mind you—you need special dispensation from the island’s owner. He doesn’t allow just anyone in.” Shido smirked. “Lucky for us, he owes me a favor.” 

Finally, Shido was ready to cash in that favor. That man—the owner, a guy that Shido knew better than he knew himself—picked up the phone right away. Shido put Akechi on speaker so he could hear their conversation. 

The island’s owner was only too happy to comply. He gave Shido a reservation at half price (still, a fortune!) for that very weekend.

Smug and satisfied, Shido picked up his cell phone again to finish his conversation with Akechi. 

“Did you just—”

“That’s right,” Shido crowed. “Clear your schedule for this weekend, Akechi-kun. We’re going to the hilltop villa and I won’t hear anything else on the subject.” He grinned. Eagerness boiling low and slow in his belly. “You said you wanted to spend more time together, right? Well here it is. A whole weekend alone, just the two of us. I’ll even turn my phone off. How about that?” 

“Sh-shido-san…” Akechi stumbled over his words. “Are you sure you can just…? With the election so close, I mean…?” 

“Lots of politicians take one last vacation right before an election,” Shido explained. “It’s symbolic. It shows a willingness to serve. I certainly won’t be taking any vacations once I’m prime minister.” 

That was all a complete lie. Politicians _never_ took vacations this close to election day—Shido’s campaign manager was certainly going to throw a fit. But. The decision had already been made. Shido’s poll numbers were way up; he had some wiggle room. And he could spin some lie to the public, like he’d come down with a cold because he was working so hard. Something relatable. People liked that. They liked being able to see themselves in the shoes of the higher-ups. Plus, saying he’d worked himself sick might garner some sympathy votes. 

…What Akechi didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. 

“Oh…so then…” Akechi sounded like he might still be waffling. But then he said, in much softer voice, “…what should I pack? I’ve never been to Fiji so I don’t know…” 

“Just a change of clothes. Something presentable. And a bathing suit if you want to go swimming. That’s it. I’ll take care of the rest.” Shido liked the way that sounded. He hardly ever took vacations himself—he could count on one hand the amount of vacations he taken in the last ten years, somewhere between zero and one—but he sounded natural when he said it. 

Presentation was all that mattered. 

“O…k…” Akechi’s tone wasn’t at all confident. But maybe that was a good thing. “So then…I’ll see you this weekend.” 

“Good. It’s settled.” 

Yes, indeed it was. Shido allowed himself another half glass of whiskey. He felt great! He should have come up with this idea earlier. Flaunting money and extravagance in front of Akechi. He could give him things certainly no high schooler ever could—what a laughable idea!—and no other man ever would. 

Shido would show Akechi the kind of man he really was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My alternate title for this fic is: "Rolly off the wrist." Thanks, DJ Khaled. I think Akechi is definitely going to get Shido's Rolex at some point. Let's make it happen. 
> 
> In the next chapter, they'll bond over calling Ren 'criminal trash who lives in an attic.' It'll be great, you'll see!


	2. The fuck am I supposed to do with--

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their vacation is off to a rough start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags tags tags...tags are your friend.
> 
> Enjoy!

Akechi clutched the first class tickets in his hand with a clawing sense of guilt. He was sitting at the departure gate, waiting to board the plane. Fifteen minutes until boarding time. He’d never flown first class 

Fiji—fucking Fiji? Really? Of all the things and all the places…

The fuck was Akechi supposed to do with Fiji? 

Well, there was one thing he should have done with the offer! He should have turned it down. No question. He was trying to quit Shido, damn it! He was trying so hard…and he’d almost kicked the filthy habit…crawling into his father’s arms, begging for him and his dick, scraps of his affection given like an afterthought…it was humiliating. He’d almost broken free of all that. 

But when Akechi heard Shido’s voice on that phone call…he felt like something had changed. Shido sounded _different_. Relieved—the same way he sounded when they got past a nail biting roadblock in the plan. It had happened a few times before. Akechi could recognize it. Shido sounded relieved. But, relieved to hear from him, Akechi? Why? It’s not like he’d been worried….

….Or had he? 

Akechi read his own name over and over on the tickets. Shido had bought these for him. With his money. He’d bought them as a way to…what, ‘make up for the things that had been lacking’? Isn’t that what he’d said? 

What did Shido think had been lacking? Did he even know? How could he ever know what Akechi really felt? Shido didn’t have feelings like a regular person, right? He was so distorted there was nothing left of humanity in him. So then, how could he possibly understand that the thing inside Akechi that hungered for him was not strictly a sex thing. In fact, sometimes it wasn’t a sex thing at all. For him, it was that the sex came the closest. And it was _good_.

He remembered the first time the truth came out between them. It was around the second or maybe the third time they'd had sex. Akechi sat there, humiliating himself once again by losing himself to sex from his papa (god, he turned into such a...he didn't even know what whenever Shido fucked him. He was just hardwired like that, no fighting it!). He figured it was time to come out with the truth: 

"You know I'm actually your son, right?" That's all Akechi had said. He'd deadpanned just like that. 

Shido, wiping his glasses on a clean cloth, as calm as he might be if you told him it was quite a rainy day outside, just said, "Of course. I've known since the beginning." 

That was it. After that, they only mentioned it a handful of times. Shido hardly ever asked about it--he seemed to know the whole story already. How many foster homes Akechi had been through. The names of his foster parents, including all the ones Akechi himself would rather forget. Shido had all the information in the palm of his hand. Like always. 

It didn't matter. Knowing that they were blood relatives didn't change anything. Shido used Akechi for his own purposes, because that's what he did with people. Everyone. Akechi thought he'd been the same type of person, but it turned out....there was something else he needed from Shido. Something his body knew before even he did. Something even more embarrassing than the sex.

The thing that Akechi really wanted from Shido…he’d never taken the time to be honest with himself about it. So, there was no way in hell Shido knew about it. And even if he did, there was no way he could ever give it.

He couldn’t. He couldn’t, okay? He couldn’t, so…

So….

But Akechi had agreed to go on this ridiculous trip anyway. He’d packed his bags at the drop of a hat, posted on his blog about going on a confidential trip to solve a low-profile case. Somewhere there wasn’t any internet. Shido explained that there was absolute discretion on Laucala Island. A strict ‘no photos of other patrons’ policy. Shido was probably already there; he’d be going on his private jet. Couldn’t make the same offer to Akechi otherwise it would be too obvious what they were really doing. All the papers were talking about how he had come down with some kind of cold. They were safe. 

It came together so fast. One minute, Akechi was swearing off Shido’s dick for the rest of his life. The next, he was boarding a plane to go spend a luxurious weekend together. 

How…? 

Akechi sighed. He knew how. He knew why. There was a part of him that would never be done with Shido. Not until he put a bullet in his head, or until Shido got to him first and showed him the same courtesy. One way or the other, one of them had to die for this to end. It was too good. When they fucked, something rattled in Akechi’s core. It rattled around like a loose piece in a motor. Causing havoc everywhere it went. It was dangerous and terrifying, and Akechi couldn’t stop. 

Especially when he heard the relief in Shido’s voice. It mined too close to his pathetic wish…

Even these tickets. The ones with his _name_ on them. Knowing that his father had spent his own money on Akechi—him alone!—not for any reason other than because he wanted to. These tickets were so very special and Akechi wanted to memorize how they looked in his hands. His name printed there. A secret, tiny smile cracked his heart in two. 

He really shouldn’t…

…In all likelihood, there was actually another reason Shido suggested this trip. This was some kind of trap. Was Shido planning on having him killed in Fiji? Hide his body? It was a good cover, Akechi would give him that. 

Eh. If that’s how this crazy story ended, then oh well. It wasn’t a bad ending. Dying on the beach in some hilltop villa, you could do worse. Besides, Akechi was coming to terms with the fact that he wouldn’t be free from Shido until he died. Maybe it was for the better that death came sooner rather than later. Not in a dramatic way—he was speaking in terms of pragmatics. If Shido was going to end him now, it saved time. Ren wouldn’t have to die. The phantom thieves could win. Wasn’t that a nice little story? Striking down the evils of society and whatever. Hooray for them (fucking idiots). 

Not to mention, the papers would eat it up! Akechi would go down in history as a legend! 

He could see the headlines now: Ace detective turns up dead under mysterious circumstances. People loved mysterious circumstances! So glamorous! Akechi made sure to take a really cute selfie of himself before he left and post it on his blog. Just in case that was the last picture of him ever taken. He wanted to make sure it was a good one. He’d done pretty well in that respect.

He’d done as well as he could. With everything. 

Suddenly Akechi thought of his mother. He’d been thinking about her more and more recently. He’d never really processed her death—for years, the only thing he thought about anytime someone said the word ‘mother’ was the way she looked when he found her dead, by her own hand. As he got older he just shoved it all down. Buried it. Fed it to the chasm of hatred and fuming gasoline that would eventually become Loki. It was good fuel. At least his mother’s death had a purpose in that respect. 

But now, lately, out of nowhere, he was thinking about her. Her face (before she died). Her handwriting, of all things. She used to leave him notes in his lunchbox when she sent him to school. On good days, anyway. When she felt well enough to get out of bed. Akechi remembered her bed very well. She spent most of her time in it, battling the debilitating depression that would eventually kill her. She also worked from the bed, taking "customers" to her room at odd intervals, whenever they needed the money. Which was constant. Akech saw the bed as part of her. A permanent fixture. As a child not knowing any better, he spent his free time laying down next to her. Being in the bed was the only way he had access to her, so he made himself comfortable. Played all his childhood games next to her, making up stories in the sheets with his stuffed animals. Curled up close to her while she slept or while she stared blankly at the walls. Nervous as all hell when she sent him to the public bathhouse while she worked. Afraid that when he came back she would be...

Part of him always knew she wouldn’t be around for long. Somehow, even as a little child, he’d known that. So he stayed glued to her side. Even when she was too far gone to hold him back, or when she pushed him away, Akechi literally clung to her. Until she finally ended it and he couldn’t anymore. 

Those were his earliest memories. The only parental love he’d ever known.

Until now…

“Attention passengers. We are now boarding first class. First class passengers only, you may board the plane.” 

Oh right, first class, that meant him. Careful and curious, Akechi handed his tickets to the flight attendants. Was he passing as someone who looked like they belonged here?

Apparently so. 

Once he boarded, Akechi felt the finality of his actions weighing heavily in his stomach. He’d really done it now. Flying to the middle of nowhere—_fucking Fiji_— to be at Shido’s complete mercy. Once again caught in the strings of his own spider web. Dangling by one foot. Barely breathing. 

Maybe he’d die over there. Maybe he’d just be fucked raw and then discarded, like always. One way or the other, it was already decided. Choice made. So he needed to learn to live with it.

The worst part was this: In his heart, Akechi had calculated the hours it would take to get from Japan to Fiji. Nine and a half hours. In just nine and a half hours he’d get to see Shido again. Possibly even get to touch him, to smell him, to feel him _inside_, that place that always wanted him…even when he was just sitting at his school desk or walking down the street, that place always remembered how Shido felt. Burning hot and just right. It wanted him. Akechi tried not to think about it too much, but…it drove him to distraction. That place had a mind of its own. It wanted Shido’s hard cock shoved inside, slotted perfectly like they’d been tailor made for each other…

There would always be a part of him that couldn’t wait to see Shido again. That was the worst of it.

Akechi squirmed in his seat and bit his lip. He could feel himself getting excited. Soft behind and hard in front. _Ready_. 

He glanced worriedly at the bathroom door, a few rows away. First class bathrooms were probably nicer than regular airplane bathrooms, right? Hell, Akechi had his own little bed up here (the first class seats converted into a fully reclining bed if you wanted). The bathroom was probably nicer than the one in his apartment. 

He shouldn’t. 

…Even so, his hand reached for his carry-on bag. He’d packed exactly what Shido told him to (a nice outfit, a change of clothes, and a bathing suit), plus one extra thing. Or a couple. The things he needed right now. 

Akechi rolled his eyes internally. At himself. At what he was doing, at the whole situation. This was all so weird. He had no idea what waited for him in fucking Fiji, but even so, it was better to go prepared. 

He was surprised they’d let him on board with a butt plug. They had to see it when they scanned his bag, right? Maybe the promise of discretion had already started. 

He hoped so, because lugging his carry-on into the bathroom was another painfully obvious move.

And still. He did it.

______________________________________________________

There was only one way to start a vacation like this, Shido reasoned. One way alone. He clipped the tip of his 1966 limited edition Cohiba Cuban cigar and sucked on the end. As he lit it, he inhaled long and slow. Savoring every note. This single cigar cost over $300 American…around 30,000 yen. He was going to fucking enjoy it. 

But yeah. It was a pretty good smoke. 

Shido leaned back in the plush leather chair on the veranda, looking out at the private villa he’d reserved (that again cost him $22,000 a night American at half price. About 2,00,000 yen a night, so roughly eight million when he was done, since he needed to reserve a four-night minimum as part of the island owner’s policy). He was going to fucking enjoy this too, damn it! He better! 

…And Akechi better fucking appreciate it…that little brat was really costing him this weekend…he better be ready to pay with his ass. And other things. Whatever Shido damn well wanted. He was still deciding what that was. He had a few ideas, but he’d wait to see how he felt once the little shit was actually in front of him.

Truth be told, he couldn’t wait. 

Filling his lungs with expensive smoke, Shido bided his time. Patience was never one of his strong suits, but. Vacations were about wiling away the hours, weren’t they? Shido could barely remember what he’d done on his last vacation. (Probably, he’d fucked a bunch of prostitutes the hotel provided him with, or at least, that’s what he imagined he’d done. He’d probably over-indulged his drinking again and now he wasn’t quite sure how any of it went down. So he let his imagination fill in the gaps. That was fine. This was nearly ten years ago, after all.) He needed to learn how to waste time.

Well, it wasn’t a waste if he was finally cracking open a 30,000 yen cigar, right? And now he had time to see what the hell was so special about this place that he was coughing up eight million for a long weekend. For one thing, they did not allow any commercial airlines to land here. Akechi was flying commercial (first-class, but still) and he needed to land in Suva, then take a private, island-owned plane to the resort. Shido would never admit how much he’d shelled out for that. 

But you could see why they had their rules. This island was pristine in every way. Quiet, except for the distant sound of running water from the spa. Turquoise water on all sides of the island, with green foliage and immaculately groomed wildlife. The private villa was something else—more space in here than in Shido’s luxury apartment. With private, personal pools and every amenity you could think of. Personal chefs that had been told ahead of time what their favorite foods were. They didn’t even need to leave this villa to be spoiled for choice. 

And that was exactly what Shido planned to do. Stay right the fuck in this villa. For four nights. Akechi really didn’t know what was coming to him. 

He took out his wallet and fished for the pack of pills he’d stashed in the billfold. He rubbed his thumb over the little bumps in the thin plastic sleeve. 

That fucking kid…making him get these pills…alright, it wasn’t the first time Shido had ever bought them. He knew how to get them discreetly for a reason, after all. But he’d never bought them with the intent of pleasing someone else before. They’d always just been for him. When he needed a little extra help. Nothing serious. 

But for god’s sake, if he was trying to keep up with high schoolers, then…! What the hell else was he supposed to do! Shido imagined that filthy black-haired runt and nearly had an aneurism. That fucking piece of attic trash, putting his dick in Shido’s son without even asking for permission…acting like he could do whatever he wanted…and then Akechi probably loving it because he was such a slut…

How many times did they go in a night? How many hours did it last? Shido figured that if he took these pills he could easily match that, maybe even outmatch it. He was pretty hard up for it too, so he was fairly confident in his ability to perform right now. But, having expectations always put a damp on things. Men couldn’t perform well under pressure—anyone could tell you that! Shido prided himself on his ability to rival that fact, but still….these eighteen year olds and their natural, cocksure stamina…

Furious, Shido popped out a few of the pills (off-brand Viagra) and stashed them loose in the billfold. He knew from experience that these worked best in a five to ten minute window after ingesting. Checking his watch, Akechi still had a half hour before he landed. Which meant twenty minutes before the personal chauffeur (provided by the island) drove Shido down to landing strip to go meet him. So, better to wait until then. 

He tucked his wallet, pills intact, away. A few more minutes.

Fuck, he hated waiting.

How did people live, having nothing to do? Shido couldn’t possibly imagine.

He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair and rolled the cigar between his thumb and forefinger. It was hard not checking his watch every seven seconds, but he forced himself to do it. He had even turned off his email notifications for the weekend. Unheard of! But he’d promised Akechi he would, and Shido didn’t intend to think about anything other than his purpose for being here. Just this once. He needed to get this whole thing in order before he could go back to work and be useful again. Yes. Taking care of business. That’s what this was. 

In a certain way.

Finally the chauffeur rang up to his room, informing him that it was time to go pick up his son. Right on schedule.

At last. 

Shido marched into the car (a luxury town car, a black Lincoln, with tinted windows and a divider between the front and back seats) with all the pride left to him. He didn’t look the chauffeur in the eye, he didn’t even learn his name. Inconsequential. He’d given him express orders on what to do and Shido expected them to be followed. Without question. 

Everything according to plan. He rubbed his hands together and pressed his palm against the wallet in his pocket. _Soon_.

As they pulled up to the landing strip, Shido watched Akechi stalk off the plane. He was wearing a long-sleeved blue knit top and some khaki pants. A pair of sunglasses on the top of his head. Was this his vacation look or something? He looked ridiculous. Nervous as a gazelle, glancing over his shoulder continuously, as if he expected someone to jump out at him.

And that outfit looked like something a pauper would wear. He’d dressed for October in Tokyo, not the tropical island of Laucala. Akechi seemed painfully out of place on this island. 

Shido couldn’t explain why that made him smile. A rumbling anticipation built in his chest. He liked it. Giddy, Shido rolled down the window, calling out to him.

“Akechi.” 

His son startled, shoulders flinching as he turned towards his name. When he saw Shido he blinked, half-bowing as he normally did. Eyes flickering towards all the attendants around them, people taking his bags and opening the car door for him. 

Akechi clearly wasn’t used to this treatment. People waiting on him. He was thanking everyone unnecessarily.

Shido’s smile widened. Oh, the things he wanted to do to this boy.

While Akechi heard the welcome spiel from one of the attendants, Shido discreetly reached into his wallet. He popped a tiny pill into his mouth without notice from anyone. By the time Akechi slid into the seat next to him, Shido could already feel its effects.

Or, he was feeling something. Because once the door was closed and they were officially alone (the divider was up, so the chauffeur didn’t count) it was hard not pulling Akechi closer by the wrist. Shido wanted to lean in and claim his mouth right then and there. There was a tugging sensation in Shido’s chest, like a tight string attached to Akechi that he wanted to rein in. Like calling a horse back to its stable. He wanted Akechi in his lap. Now. He wanted to feel his slight figure in his arms. He wanted to smell the clean, fresh scent of his young man’s body wash. It smelled like laundry detergent and the stuff they sprayed in department stores to get you to buy something. Clean and inviting, that’s what Akechi smelled like. Shido wanted to bury his nose in the back of his son’s neck and lick him. Akechi loved getting licked on the neck. It made him shiver, and if Shido was already inside him, it made him loosen up down there. Yielding to him, soft and vulnerable. Dizzy with hunger. Shido wanted to make Akechi like that. Now. Not later, now! 

Wow, the effects of the drug were coming on faster than usual, weren’t they. Shido could already feel himself getting hard, just from looking at Akechi and imagining. This was a bit much. Had he taken the right dosage? It was just one pill, wasn’t it?

Whatever. You couldn’t fault a drug for working too well!

Shido turned towards Akechi and reached out his hand. Not interested in waiting any longer. “How was your flight?” 

Akechi looked down. He scooted closer to Shido and took his hand. Knowing what his father wanted, of course. “It was fine. As expected, I guess.” 

Hmm. He seemed to be holding back for some reason. Shido frowned. There was some kind of wall between them. Which there shouldn’t be—especially not here, on this private island, eight million yen after the fact! That really pissed him off. He tried to think of a reason for it. What, was Akechi thinking about _him_ again? 

Intolerable.

Shido yanked Akechi’s arm, pulling him violently closer. His cock was heavy between his legs and he didn’t give a shit about anything else. Akechi gasped as Shido swept the hair off his neck and bit him. A little harder than he meant to. But here, finally, was his son’s scent. The sweet, silken, ivory skin that fucking called Shido’s name every time he saw it. Delicious and so very tempting. Shido licked the bite mark on his neck and felt like an animal. 

He liked that, too.

“Ah—!” Akechi tried to pull away. “Sh-shido-san…wait! Too rough!” 

“Shut up,” Shido grunted, his eye twitching with irritation. This little cocktease. So pristine and perfect, offering himself up on a silver platter and then trying to weasel out of it. “You know why we’re here, right?” 

He spoke low and deep in Akechi’s ear, the way he liked. Satisfyingly, Akechi trembled. Of course. “You’re mine for the next four days. Got it?” He licked Akechi’s ear and wrapped an arm around his waist, shoving his hand in between his legs. Feeling up his inner thigh while he spread his legs apart. 

Akechi didn’t resist. He turned his head to give Shido more access to his neck and let his legs open. What a slut. God, that turned Shido on so much. “Y-yes…”

Shido stroked up his thigh and fisted the bulge in the front of his pants. Already hard, _perfect_. Shido loved being right. He knew Akechi wanted it just as much as he did. “Were you a good boy?” he rumbled, squeezing Akechi’s package, pulling him closer. “Did you get yourself ready for me?” 

Biting his lip, Akechi nodded. 

Part of Shido’s brain short circuited. He loved that so much. He imagined Akechi —face red, embarrassed and excited—shoving that tiny little butt plug in his ass, pretending it was Shido. Trying to get more sensation out of it. Failing. Having to stay unsatisfied until he finally met Shido again. That was so hot, and the best part? It was almost certainly true.

Hard enough now to actually be uncomfortable, Shido pulled Akechi into his lap. He pressed Akechi’s back into his chest and kissed along his neck, pulling the sweater off his shoulder to nip at the skin there as well. He wanted to hear more. To elaborate on that tasty fantasy that got him off. “Did you really?” he pressed. “With what? Did you use the plug I gave you, like I asked?” 

Akechi winced, trying to close his legs. Shido wouldn’t let him. Clearly, the kid’s feathers were ruffled, talking about this before they were behind closed doors. Shido didn’t care. “W-wait, let’s…not here, papa…let’s wait until we get to the hotel….” 

Shido chuckled. “It’s a villa,” he corrected. “And no, I want to hear about it now. Did you fuck yourself on plane? Are you still wearing it, squeezing it in your tight little ass, hoping it’ll turn into my cock sometime soon?”

“Sh-shido!” Akechi was red up to his ears. “The driver…he can hear….” 

“Don’t worry about him,” Shido explained, roughly palming Akechi’s hard-on over his pants. Feeling them turn damp. Twitching every time his hand moved. Oh, Akechi wanted him bad. Shido could tell. “Just focus on me. Answer my questions.” 

“Nnnh…I…did….!” 

Drunk off power and glee (and whatever was in those pills, probably), Shido licked his lips. Greedy. He slipped his hand under Akechi’s shirt and found those pert nipples he loved to play with. They were hard already too. He wondered if Akechi pinched them on the plane while he fucked himself. They felt a little swollen. And Akechi was just as greedy as Shido, they both knew. He loved some nipple play and he probably needed something more than just the plug to get off. 

But, if he made himself cum before Shido got to him, he’d be in trouble. “You didn’t cum, did you?” Shido warned. “Don’t tell me you’re still being a brat, disobeying me.” 

Akechi shook his head no. “No, I didn’t cum…” Here. Shido could visibly see his son slipping into subspace. Melting. Turning into exactly what Shido liked, what they both craved. Yes, here was the boy he missed! “I was waiting for you, papa.” 

“Good.” Relief and gold-tinted happiness flapped around Shido’s chest. He thumbed Akechi’s lip, pulling it away from his teeth just because he could. “That better not be a lie. I’ll find out for myself.” 

He undid the buttons on Akechi’s pants and forced his way inside. Underneath both the pants and underwear, grabbing a handful of Akechi’s bare cock. It was burning hot, wet around the tip from excitement. Weeping and quivering in Shido’s big hand. But no traces of cum. 

“Hmm,” Shido noted. “Seems like you’re telling the truth. Let me check the back…” 

“Oh!” Akechi threw himself against the front seat, bending forward to give Shido all the access in the world. “Check, papa! You’ll see! I’ve been good!”

Humming contentedly, Shido slid his hand around to the seat of Akechi’s pants. He massaged the meat of Akechi’s ass, tension leaving him by the second, as he rejoiced to have access to this ass again. He’d been waiting so long! And now, it was finally back in his hand. Where it should be. 

Shido was an ass man, through and through. Fortunately for them both, Akechi had the best ass he’d ever felt. It fit perfectly in his hand. The right amount of suppleness, pliancy, and tightness. Even if you gave Shido a recipe book and god-like control over the human form, he couldn’t create an ass as perfect as this. He could feel himself salivating as he fondled it. 

“Well, well…” He fingered the crevice down the middle of that ass, finding it wet and loose. Just as promised. “You were the one complaining about the driver, but now you’re being so loud.” Shido swiped his middle finger up and down that crack, teasing it. Akechi moaned outright. “Do you want him to hear us? Is that it?” 

Akechi sucked his lips inward and shook his head. “No, no…that’s not true…I don’t…AH!” Shido swirled a small circle around his entrance, making him cry out. “No, don’t, papa! My moans are only for you!”

“Is that true?” Shido stuck the tip of his finger inside Akechi and listened to him squeal. In his mind’s eye, he saw that fucking delinquent son of a bitch again. He imagined Akechi bending over for him, spreading his cheeks and begging to be fucked. The way he did for Shido. 

It made him see red. 

While he fingered Akechi’s ass, Shido fished the cellphone out of his son's pants with his free hand. Akechi was so lost to sensations that he didn’t even notice. He unlocked the phone (Shido had cracked the passcode ages ago, come on, wasn’t too hard) and scrolled through his messages. Finding a sea of group chat texts that gave him exactly what he was looking for. These texts, they were inane and immature things. Useless words flying back and forth between that gaggle of bored teenagers. Shido pulled up the contact he wanted, his finger hovering over the ‘call’ button.

But he wanted Akechi to hear this part. 

“Call him,” he ordered. Shoving the phone into Akechi’s hand. 

“Wh…what?” Akechi stared at the contact, blinking stupidly. Still trying to ride Shido’s middle finger. No doubt he could barely feel anything, after stretching himself on the plug. He needed more. He was shaking his hips, trying to get Shido’s finger deeper. 

But Shido refused to indulge him. “Call your boyfriend,” he demanded, unzipping his pants and pulling out his own cock. “Tell him it’s over between the two of you. Right now.” 

“What?” Akechi’s eyes turned sharp. Suddenly alert. “B-boyfriend? What are you talking about?” 

“Don’t deny it,” Shido snarled. Stroking himself hard in anger. “I’ve seen the two of you together. I had you tailed. You go over that cafe almost every day. Just to play chess and hang out with that…piece of trash.” He squeezed himself. Positively livid. “It’s over, you hear me? Done! I want you to tell him with your own mouth.” 

Akechi closed his eyes and shook his head. “You’ve got it wrong. It’s not like that at all. Ren is just—”

Ren. _Ren_. His stupid fucking first name. Apparently Akechi knew him well enough to be on a first name basis! Did that mean _Ren_ got to call him that? ‘Goro?’ No one was allowed to called him by his given name. No one except Shido. He wouldn’t allow it for even one more second! 

“Enough!” Shido shoved two fingers deep inside Akechi’s ass. Right where he knew his son’s sweet spot was. Hard enough to make him moan at the top of his lungs. Unable to talk back for five seconds. Finally! While Akechi moaned, Shido pressed the call button himself. Satisfied by the ringing sound. “You’re going to tell him it’s over right now. While I fuck you.” 

Akechi turned so red he looked like he might pass out. “N-no, please, it’s not—” 

“Hello?” 

Interesting. The kid Ren Amamiya had a deeper voice than Shido expected. No wonder Akechi liked him, he liked mature sounding men. So at least there was that. 

Laying the phone down on the seat (pointedly out of Akechi’s reach), Shido finger-fucked Akechi in earnest. Even as he shook his head and stared at his father in horror, Akechi wiggled his hips backwards. Impaling himself on Shido’s fingers helplessly. He still wanted it, no matter what lies he spewed. He’d always want it. 

Shido’s self-confidence peeked out from behind whatever rock it’d been sleeping under. There it was. He felt much better seeing how loyal Akechi’s body was to him. The body couldn’t lie, even if Akechi happened to be an expert liar. 

“Hello? Akechi-kun, is that you? I thought you were away this weekend.” 

“Say hello,” Shido instructed, crooning in Akechi’s ear. Fingers buried in him up to the knuckle. “Don’t be rude.” 

He spoke low enough that he couldn’t be immediately heard over the speaker, but loud enough that there was still a chance. He didn’t care if Ren heard him. He wanted him to hear! He wanted Ren to know that Akechi already belonged to Shido. That he was treading on someone else’s property, and he better stay the fuck in his lane or else Shido would make sure he never saw the light of day again…

“H-hello…Ren…” Akechi squeaked, holding his own chin warily. His bare hands shook. “I…I am…I—mmmm!” 

Shido hooked his fingers against Akechi’s sweet spot. Bringing him up short. “Tell him it’s done. Stop wasting time.” 

“Are you alright, Akechi-kun? You cut out there for a second.” 

Akechi scrambled for the phone. Trying to grab it. Shido held it out of his reach. Thoroughly pissed now that it was clear Akechi was disobeying him. 

“N-no, I’m f-fine, Ren…I just…” Akechi swatted at air, making poor conversation. He turned to Shido and whispered angrily, “Stop it! You don’t understand, and you’re being ridiculous!” 

“Huh?” Ren sounded confused on the phone. Also there was clearly a cat meowing in the background. Ren stopped, as if listening to it. “Is there someone else with you, Akechi-kun? I thought I heard…” 

“Tell him there is,” Shido said. Far too loudly. “Tell him you’re with a man and that’s the one you’re choosing to be with from now on. No more fooling around.” He was seconds away from just telling Ren himself since Akechi didn’t seem to be able to do it—

“Ugh, you’re the worst!” Akechi growled. In a feat of strength, he leapt off Shido’s fingers, stood up, and snatched the phone out of his hand. Into the receiver, he quickly said, “Sorry, Ren-kun, I dialed you by accident. I’m traveling this weekend so I’ll see you next week. Bye!” Without waiting for an answer, he hung up and tossed his phone far out of reach of both of them.

Shido stewed with rage. “You brat! I told you to—”

“Idiot!” Akechi screamed. Face twisted like Shido had never seen before. “Ren’s not my boyfriend, okay! He’s the leader of the phantom thieves!” 

Slowly, some rational thought wormed into Shido’s one-track mind. He frowned. “…What?” 

Akechi pulled his pants up and folded his arms over his chest. “Ren and his group of friends are the phantom thieves. I’ve been hanging around him because I’m infiltrating them, as part of the plan! Remember? We talked about this in the last meeting!” 

Well…yes, Shido remembered. Akechi said he’d discovered the phantom thieves identities and was working on ingratiating himself among them to earn their trust. Before he could betray them, of course, and kill their leader himself. He hadn’t revealed their identity (because it was better for all their sakes if they didn’t know too much before it was time) and they all agreed that this was a job strictly for Akechi to handle. Once the leader was in custody, all would become clear. 

So…it made sense that Shido had seen Akechi hanging around a group of random misfit teenagers…those were the phantom thieves? That checked out. Honestly, it was fairly obvious once you really thought about it. Shido just hadn’t put two and two together because he was so busy being jealous—

Oh. Jealousy. That’s what it felt like. Shido hadn’t been jealous in a very long time. Feeling it for Akechi had made him go crazy. 

He saw that now. 

Sighing, Shido realized his mistakes. “…Oh. I see.” 

“Yeah, no shit!” Akechi’s hands tightened around his arms. “You almost blew my cover! They’re targeting you next, and if they heard your voice they would have made me! Goddamn it, Shido!” 

“Alright, alright…” Shido pushed his glasses up, slightly bashful. He hated being wrong and he didn’t want Akechi to rub his face in it. Regardless, this was no excuse for Akechi to forget his manners! Shido was still his father, and his boss! “Watch your tone.” 

Besides, this whole thing was Akechi’s fault anyway! If he hadn’t been such a brat and tried to excise Shido from his personal life without a word, then Shido wouldn’t have had to jump to conclusions! Really, Akechi was the one to blame for any misunderstanding because he hadn’t taken time to explain anything. He was playing fast and loose, so of course things got out of hand.

“If you hadn’t ignored my calls and emails then we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Shido reprimanded sternly. Cock still out. And still hard, thanks to the pills. “You’ve been behaving like a complete amateur, a child throwing a tantrum. You left me no choice but to try and find a reason.” 

“And _that’s_ the reason you came up with?!” Akechi ranted. “You really thought I was out there fucking _Ren_, some high school loser? The leader of the phantom thieves? Degenerate attic trash?”

Shido glanced down. Well, when you said it like _that_ of course it sounded stupid! It made sense at the time. “I…misread things,” he admitted, hiding his face behind the hand on his glasses. “But it’s your fault for giving me doubts.” 

“Doubts?” Akechi almost choked on the word. “Are you kidding me? What doubts? I wanted to end this and I couldn’t have been more clear—”

“You don’t decide when this ends,” Shido barked. Straightening his shoulders, grabbing Akechi by the collar. “That’s not your call to make.”

“Yes it is!” Akechi wrapped his hands around Shido’s, even more furious now. “I’m not your property! I’m your fucking son. You can’t use me whenever you feel like it and then drop me. I’m not one of your fuck toys, okay? If you just want to fuck then call one of them! I’m not into that…”

“Then what are you into?” Shido sighed, feeling some of his bravado leaving him in the face of Akechi’s opposition. No one had spoken to him like this in many years; he was kind of taken aback. Not only that, but he could see the truth behind Akechi’s words. Thinking about his son and his personality, he could see why he felt that like he’d been dropped after every fuck. 

But, the past was the past. On to the present! Shido leaned back in his seat. “We have a whole weekend together on this island and you can do whatever you want. Anything, alright? Just tell me what it is.” 

“I…” For the first time, Akechi’s anger wavered. His eyes softened by a fraction and he looked away. “I…want…” 

“Let’s hear it.” Shido stroked his cock up and down. The erection was almost an afterthought at this point, but he could still feel it. It hurt to ignore. 

Akechi returned to anger, rounding on Shido with a mad face. “Well I definitely _didn't_ want you to call my next target and try to out me! What the hell were you thinking?” 

“Okay, okay, I said I was sorry.” (He hadn’t actually. That was a little verbal pivot he sometimes used to confuse people. If you said you’d apologized then people were inclined to believe you, at least for a second. They took a moment to think back and remember it, which gave Shido time to steer the conversation somewhere else. A simple, juvenile trick. Effective, though.) “I thought you were cheating on me. I was just jealous.” 

Akechi looked as if he’d been slapped in the face. Surprised enough that his jaw hung open. “….Jealous?” he repeated. “Are you saying…I made you jealous? Me?” 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Shido took Akechi’s hand. Gently. He’d tried the forceful route, to no avail. So now he needed to tread uncharted waters. Wooing Akechi sweetly like a lover. It could work.

…Besides, it was the truth. Shido had been so jealous of Ren he stopped thinking altogether and almost ruined his own plan. That was uncharacteristically foolish, and too dangerous. Perhaps it was time they dispensed with the lies and just moved forward with honesty. Shido couldn’t afford any more slip-ups. What he needed was Akechi’s perfect little body, wrapped around his cock like a sleeve. None of this theatrical nonsense. That was starting to become a waste of time. 

Shido _hated_ wasting time.

So he’d discard it. All of it. The pointless false pride, pretending he didn’t need his son. He’d come clean. Tell Akechi the truth. 

It was something he hadn’t tried yet, at least.

“I couldn’t stand the thought of you being with someone else,” Shido admitted, pressing Akechi’s knuckles to his lips and kissing them reverently. “It was driving me crazy.” He kissed Akechi’s fingers down to the tips and took one in his mouth. Closing his eyes as he sucked. 

He felt his victory when Akechi positively whimpered. Cracking an eye open, Shido saw Akechi trembling in his seat. On the verge of something—tears or screams or some kind of breakdown. 

He liked the way that looked. 

Triumphant, Shido moved in for the kill. He inched closer to Akechi and pulled him back in his lap. Facing each other this time, both hands cradling his son’s pert ass. “I don’t want you to be with anyone else. No one, you hear? Only me. That’s how this is going to go. Is that understood?” 

Closing his eyes, turning his face to hide some of tears that spilled, Akechi nodded. “Yes, papa…” 

Shido put his thumb on Akechi’s chin and wheeled his face back around. Undaunted by the tears, not wanting Akechi to hide anything from him anymore. (Even though, he’d admit, he wasn’t exactly sure why Akechi was crying. Who could tell with an actual lunatic like this kid? Shido didn’t care, as long as Akechi was amenable to him again.) “If you’re feeling like something’s missing, like you’re not being properly taken care of, then you come tell me. Don’t run away like a coward. Say it to my face and we’ll find some way to fix it. Is _that_ understood?” 

A small sob broke out of Akechi’s mouth. He buried his face against Shido’s chest and cried. He nodded rapidly, eager to comply. “Y-yes, p-papa…” 

“Good.” Shido lifted Akechi’s head, wiping some of his tears with his palm. He frowned, unsure what to make of this. Whatever it was, it looked like it had been building for some time. These were real tears. A kind of despair that Shido had no hope of understanding. 

But this was something he didn’t like. 

“Calm down,” he said hesitantly, brushing away the hair that was sticking to Akechi’s sweaty face. “…What’s wrong?” 

“N-nothing…” Akechi wiped his mouth on his sleeve took a deep breath. “Nothing’s wrong. I just…” 

While Shido waited for an answer, Akechi wrapped his arms around his father’s shoulders and pulled him in for a surprise hug. He squeezed him hard, still shaking. 

Confused, Shido patted him on the back. He was well out of his depths right now. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d comforted someone while they were crying—if he’d ever done it at all. Shido wasn’t good at this kind of thing. Leave this to the bleeding hearts and the people beneath him, he thought, he wasn’t supposed to get involved…hadn’t it already been proven that he wasn’t the type to give people the things they needed? Clearly, if Akechi’s mother was anything to go by—

Akechi squeezed him so tightly the air left Shido’s lungs. “Alright—alright—” he wheezed, pushing Akechi backwards to create space enough to breathe. “Take it easy…” 

Wiping away the rest of his tears, Akechi glanced around the car. As if suddenly realizing where they were. “Shouldn’t we be at the hotel by now?” 

“Again, it’s a villa,” Shido scolded. He tucked his penis back into his pants, even though it was difficult to do. He sort of forgot what it felt like not to be hard. Akechi was really pushing him into blue ball territory. That little… “And yeah, the island is only five kilometers long. We’ve been circling the perimeter. I told the chauffeur to just drive us around until I give him the signal to stop.” He’d thought they’d definitely be fucking by now, but lo and behold, Akechi was being difficult! What else was new! 

“Okay…” Akechi sniffed, settling back into himself. He looked out the window, seeing the scenery for the first time. “Wow, it’s really beautiful. The water is so clear!” 

“I know,” Shido purred. He combed his hand through Akechi’s hair. Rather pleased that they’d overcome that hurdle first. Now Akechi could finally appreciate this place. “You can go diving if you like. The coral reef here is a once in a lifetime sight, I’m told.” 

“Diving? I don’t know how…” Akechi made himself comfortable on Shido’s lap. Resting his head on his chest, watching the tropical view pass by outside the car.

Shido took off Akechi’s sunglasses and kissed the top of his head, inhaling his scent. It drove away all the tension throughout Shido’s body. He felt like some missing piece of himself had just clicked into place. Here was the smell he’d been craving. The body he’d been wanting to hold. Here it was. 

Grinning lopsidedly, Shido kissed Akechi’s head again. “I’m sure they’ll teach you if you ask.” 

“Hmmm…” Akechi thought about it for a moment. Then he raised his head, searching Shido’s eyes. “Will you come with me?” 

Of course, Shido had no intention of doing anything so ridiculous. He didn’t like learning new things, and he didn’t like putting himself in compromising situations in front of other people. Situations where he could potentially make a fool of himself. So that was a hard no on the diving.

But still, for Akechi’s sake, Shido said, “Maybe.” 

Akechi laughed airily. He’d probably seen right through him, as usual. Oh well. “I want to do fun new things with you, Shido-san. Since we’re here and everything.” 

“Oh?” Shido stroked the side of Akechi’s face. As affectionate as he’d ever been. “Like what?” 

“Ummm….” Akechi was positively glowing. A strange version of his usual subspace affixed itself onto his face. This version was alert and vivacious, but as young and needy as ever. “I want you to take me back to the room and fuck me. On the bed, like a real couple.” His eyes melted into lovelorn hearts. “I want you to make love to me, papa. For real this time, no interruptions. And then we can go out to dinner and eat food together. We can eat whatever, I don’t care, I just want to eat with you. Like a…f-family…or…something! And then you can take me back home and fuck me again until we fall asleep. Or if you want to take a shower we can shower together. And if yougettiredI’llcleanusupandthen—”

“Whoa, whoa…slow down…” Shido blinked nervously, realizing he was on the hook for a lot of things all of a sudden. Also, that Akechi was spiraling into some fantasy he’d been harboring. “…One thing at a time, alright?” 

“Whatever you say, papa!” Akechi resumed his position on Shido’s lap. As smug as the cat that got into the cream. 

Sighing, Shido knocked on the divider once, then twice. As ordered, the driver turned in the direction of the villa. Time to head back. Then Akechi could see exactly what Shido had in store for him.

He glanced down at his son, wondering if Akechi would be in his adorable subspace the entire time. Calling him ‘papa’ like he did, acting like some weird pretend kid. The little to Shido’s Big, or whatever. It was hot when they did it during sex, but he’d never seen it outside of that before.

It was kind of…nice. No, nice wasn’t the word. It was…something. 

Shido didn’t know quite what.

Anyway, he was okay with the idea. He just wanted Akechi to see the room—villa, fuck—and be genuinely impressed.

He wanted Akechi to forget what happened before and stop thinking about anything other than the two of them. The here and now. He wanted to have that kind of moment. A selfish, extravagant moment. Something no one else could ever replicate. Shido didn’t know the words for that kind of moment, either. But he wanted it. 

Without any doubt. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do they get their moment?? Find out in chapter two in the ongoing saga of 'who is more wrong? The big idiot or the smaller one?' I love these guys, can't even lie.
> 
> Thanks for reading, guys!


	3. A place no one else can have

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's all theirs. Every bit of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I went back and changed some of the first chapters. The parts with Akechi's mom. Just to comply with the canon reveals in Royal. Sigh. I'll admit, I don't love the reveal we got about her? But, eh. I guess. So. It's changed now *shrug*. 
> 
> Here's the ending! Some smut and general depravity ^___^ Enjoy!

Akechi’s eyes widened as he took in the sight of their hotel room for the next four days. He understood now that word Shido had been throwing around since he’d arrived: Villa. This was not even close to a hotel—it was a series of extravagant huts stuck together to form a small, multi-storied house. Akechi thought at first there must be other people renting the villa alongside them. Which he didn’t particularly mind, he’d heard about hostels and European style shared living spaces. But he thought this was supposed to be private…just him and Shido…he hoped they could have some alone time…

“So,” he asked, still gawking at the villa, while attendants unpacked his bags. Shido stood next to him. Eyeing him like a hawk. “Which room is ours?” 

Shido’s dark laughter struck Akechi like an electric shock. He almost never laughed, hardly ever even smiled. But Shido was in some kind of mood, something like Akechi had never seen before. He was off the rails, attacking him in the limousine like that, calling Ren. He couldn’t keep his hands off Akechi and his cock was _ridiculously_ hard. Akechi could hardly believe the sight of it! (Even though it made his mouth water just to look at…) 

Unchained. Unhinged, possibly. That’s what Shido was right now. On this island. 

Akechi’s mind was dipping in and out of the warm, gooey sinkhole that was his subspace. He knew what it felt like to be there—he got there every time he and Shido had sex—but he didn’t call it anything like _that_ (what it really was) in his own head. He called it the sinkhole. A molten pool of soft, all-consuming fuzziness that ate him whole. A headspace that made him want to call Shido “papa” and suck his fingers, his dick, his anything. To give in to his every whim, to be his…_his. _His boy. (God, that made him weak at the knees, to think Shido considered him that way…)It did things to his body too, that sinkhole. Everything felt more intense. He was more sensitive, far too sensitive, in fact. He couldn’t take it. His body needed to be touched, his knees went weak. His cock trembled and leaked without stopping, his ass ached to be stuffed. 

It was a lot. 

Akechi didn’t love the sinkhole—it was just something he naturally did, because of all the shit he’d never dealt with in his past and current life—but he…accepted it. It only happened with Shido, so, it was just that. _That _and this. Whatever this was between them. He’d been trying to give up on Shido but now it was clear that was never going to happen. Not when Shido got him there so fast, without even really trying. Just a few words and eyes like a promise. A promise of something that existed between them and would never go away. Besides, Shido had even sort of apologized! Almost. Not quite, but kind of?

Akechi would never hear the words for sure, Akechi knew. So. He’d just let his imagination take this one and run away with it. 

Oh, papa must be so sorry he ever spoke to me like that….

It felt good to think. 

Sure, Akechi nearly died when Shido made him talk on the phone while he finger fucked him. That was torture. Most likely, Ren heard something. Figured it out. He wasn’t dumb, after all. So he probably knew more or less what Akechi was up to this weekend.

But, honestly? With Shido’s hands on his body, with his crazy laughter, his hungry eyes, and his relentless obsession with Akechi’s own body…Akechi didn’t give a shit. 

Fuck Ren. Ren was a piece of shit anyway. Why should Akechi care? 

Shido was right here! Walking up behind him and embracing him like a lover, in front of all the attendants! 

Akechi turned red, his mind sinking down. Down, down, down, into that place…

He sucked in air, leaning his head back against Shido’s shoulder. He bit his lips to hold in all the embarrassing words fighting their way out of his mouth. Eyeing the attendants warily. Although, they didn’t seem to care, either. Perhaps they didn’t know who Shido was, nor who Akechi was. Or maybe they were paid not to look too closely at anyone or anything. Regardless, they didn’t even blink at the show Shido was putting on. Grabbing Akechi’s ass, wrapping an arm around his waist possessively. Sliding his hand underneath Akechi’s sweater. 

No fair. Akechi’s bare skin sighed in pleasure, reveling in the touch. It wasn’t fair for Shido to do that here. To make him lose it like that in front of other people…

…even though, Akechi was starting to care less and less about anyone else. Let them see, he thought. Let them fucking see how much my papa loves me—

He was drowning in the sinkhole now. Head under water. Grasping blindly at air, until his fingertips sunk below the surface. He was done. 

“Which room?” Shido chuckled. He kissed the side of Akechi’s face and Akechi squealed in delight, cutting the noise short with whatever dignity he had left. “They’re all ours.”

“…All of them?” Akechi gasped. The entire villa…? 

How…? How much had this cost, exactly? Probably an obscene amount! Akechi wanted to scold Shido for wasting money—did he even want to know the number? Better not to think about it! 

At the same time, he wanted to bathe in the number like it was some kind of delicious wine. Shido had spent all that money on _him,_ not on anyone else! Just for him, _his son_, for them, for their weekend together…

…Oh…that was _so_…

Sinking further, Akechi giggled. “Wow,” he cooed. “It’s so luxurious!”

“Hnn. You have no idea.” Shido slapped his ass lightly and pulled him in the front door. 

Indeed, the inside was something fucking else.

It was unreal! All hardwood and glass, smooth and clean. Being in the villa felt like being outside—there were windows over every wall of the place, almost no barrier at all—but it was perfectly cool with the comforts of the indoors. Ethereally balanced. Almost eerie, like peaking behind the curtain at the next level of comfort no normal humans were meant to experience. Akechi didn’t feel real in this place. He felt like a thief stealing holy light from the gods. And that felt _amazing_. It was completely furnished. All marble and pleasant, cushioned fabric. Long couches meant for lounging. For lazy mornings and evenings that stretched into infinity. A fully stocked bar with drinks, and a fireplace in back. 

…This was all theirs. 

Akechi wanted to roll his body over every surface of this villa. To claim it. To make sure that he never forgot how beautiful it was, how expensive. How much Shido had spent just to make him happy. He wanted to grind this villa into dust and snort it like cocaine. He wanted to ingest it into himself so that it could become part of him. He wanted to keep it forever, in a secret place, where it could never be taken away. Somewhere safe. 

He’d never let anyone take this villa from him. Not the memory, at least. Not this exact moment when he realized Shido had planned something exorbitant for his sake. No one would ever get to have that! 

“Do you like it?” Shido asked, taking in all his reactions. 

Outwardly, Akechi was just standing there dumbfounded. But Shido must have known what a mess he was inside. He always seemed to have a sense for that. And he knew all about the little Akechi that came out when he felt the time was right. He accepted that part of him too, even played along with it. In all the right ways. 

Akechi loved that. So very much.

He committed the sight of the villa to memory and turned to Shido. He wrapped his arms around Shido’s neck, pulling his face close. “I love it, papa,” he hummed. “Thank you for doing all this. For bringing us here. It’s _perfect_.”

Shido grinned. He had a wild, death-like grin. It probably would have been repulsive to most people—his baldness and his serious demeanor made his face look nearly skeletal when he smiled—but to Akechi it was a rare gem. He drank in that grin, knowing something was about to happen to him.

“Good. You better fucking like it. You have no idea how much it’s costing me.” Shido kissed him hard on the mouth. 

He was a terrible kisser, too much teeth, not enough lips to dull their sharpness. But Akechi was used to that by now. He’d tried his best to teach Shido better technique by guiding him into something a little softer. But it was no use. Shido was set in his ways. He kissed like a college kid who’d been drinking and was now getting to taste someone’s lips for the first time. That’s how Shido kissed. Every time, without fail. 

Akechi liked that too. He smiled against Shido’s teeth and let himself be kissed. He melted against his father, pressing their bodies together. 

Shit—Shido was so hard! Akechi gasped when he felt the bulge against his thigh. It was hard as steel, like bumping your leg against the handrail in the subway. It actually almost hurt pressing into him—oh god, Shido must have been dying!

Akechi cupped it gently with one hand. Eyes soft, making a sympathetic noise in the back of his throat. 

Poor papa, he thought. Getting this hard, having to wait for me…how long has he been like this? Not long, I hope!

…Although, Akechi had made him wait for almost two months…

The bratty side of Akechi silently cheered. He liked knowing that Shido had been hurting for him. Even though this erection was in another league—what, had Shido taken pills or something? Would he do that?—Akechi liked to think it was all because of him. He liked making him wait until he just couldn’t anymore! The power felt good, and also, there was security in such a strong reaction. Something that was undeniably true no matter what anyone said. You couldn’t deny the proof of an erection like that and Akechi felt validated by it. 

Oh, he thought, I can make papa so hard…

Shido growled when Akechi touched him. “Now, just what do you think you’re touching?” He was smiling on one side of his face, but his eyes looked pissed. “If you’re going to touch it, you better be ready to do something with it.” 

“I’m ready~!” Akechi sang. He dropped to his knees so fast he made himself dizzy. 

They were going to do this right here. Akechi wanted to have sex in every room. On every couch, every rug, every windowpane. He wanted to leave their scent over everything. Their stains. Their fingerprints. Their cum, their hairs. Everything. Everywhere. 

They could start with this wooden floor right here. In the sitting room (or whatever this was called, he really didn’t know). It was as good a place as any. Time to get started! 

He unzipped his father’s pants, mouth falling open with a silent sound when Shido’s cock sprang out to meet him. What the…? It was much bigger than he remembered! 

No wonder it felt like he was being stabbed in the leg…

But he was far from daunted. He saw how thick and red it was. Turning purplish around the tip, the veins around the base bulging from strain. So full—literally full to bursting! Akechi would never shy away from a challenge like this. Not only that, he wanted to be the one to enjoy Shido’s cock when it was in this pitiful, beautiful state. He didn’t want to share this cock with anyone—he wanted it all to himself!

He licked the tip like a kitten lapping up milk. Coquettish and exploratory. Shido’s tight skin burned his tongue. His cock stood proudly, straight up. High enough to press against his belt buckle, which Akechi had never seen it like that before. He stuck his nose against the thin, fluffy pubic hair around the base and nibbled on the throbbing vein underneath. That vein was as thick as Akechi’s little finger and he was completely fascinated by it. 

“You call that sucking?” Shido grumbled. He gripped the back of Akechi’s head, but he didn’t force him down onto his cock, like Akechi thought he might have.

That was…surprising. Akechi had been expecting Shido to be rougher with him. But he seemed to be letting Akechi go at his own pace. Eyes open and curious, Akechi watched Shido’s reactions as he rubbed his mouth against the underside, rocking his body back and forth to create friction. Shido was gritting his teeth, staring right back at him. 

Heat and unspoken tension throbbed in the empty space between their gazes. Something was building. Something terrible or wonderful, Akechi couldn’t be certain. 

But it was very intense. That shared look was a kind of high too. He felt like they were feeling the same thing: A cautious, unspeakable need. They needed each other, and they were both waiting for the other to lose control first. 

Akechi broke eye contact to deep throat Shido. Slow and thorough. Well, he thought, at least they shared the same kinks. Maybe that’s why they worked so well together. They were so sexually compatible it was insane. 

He lost himself to the feeling of sucking Shido’s cock. He loved the weight of it pressing on the back of his tongue. Penetrating his throat. Filling his senses so that Akechi couldn’t taste or smell anything else. He didn’t get off giving blowjobs, but he always jumped at the chance to give them anyway. He found unbeatable satisfaction in it. Shido’s cock in his throat filled a need that he couldn’t communicate with words. It gave him energy, made him feel rested and healthy. He could suck this dick all day and all night, and he probably wouldn’t ever get tired! 

“Tch. Having fun?” Shido pulled him off his dick by his hair. “You look like you’re enjoying that way too much.”

Akechi groaned. He pouted, stretching his tongue out as far as it could go, dying for another taste of that dick. He licked what he could reach, just the tip. Shido was holding him at arm’s length. Keeping him away from his prize. 

“Mmm…but you know I love sucking your cock, papa…” Akechi whined. “I’ve been missing it! And I want to take my time…” 

A long stream of air brushed Akechi’s face. He looked up to see Shido with his eyes closed, sighing. As if taking that in. Those words. It was a strange, delicate moment and Akechi didn’t know what to do. Should he keep going? Shido looked exhausted and riled up all at the same time.

“Shido-san? Are you…alright?” Akechi wrapped a hand around Shido’s cock, stroking him to get his attention. 

When Shido opened his eyes again, he seemed pissed on a new level. Calmly furious, so bad that he just looked tired. Like his rage had burned itself out, leaving him with nothing but smoldering ashes. “I knew you missed it, you little cock slut. I knew it.” 

He grabbed Akechi by the collar, pulling him to his feet. He dragged him through the villa—Akechi oohed and ahed at everything they passed, but they moved too quick for him to really appreciate anything!—and up a short flight of stairs to the master bedroom. This was extravagance in every sense of the word. A huge, downy bed nestling on heated wooden floors with air conditioning in the background. Expensive sheets and dozens of different sized pillows. An attached bathroom, bigger than the one in Akechi’s apartment! 

Shido pushed Akechi into the middle of the room, ignoring the beauty of this room and forcing Akechi to forget about anything else. He started taking off his clothes. It took Akechi’s breath away; had never seen Shido completely naked before! The man never got totally undressed in the office or at the club, and they’d never had sex anywhere else! The most nude he’d ever seen Shido was with his pants and underwear off, shirt-cocking like a champion in his dress shirt and suit jacket. But now Shido was bare-chested. Naked to the waist, then shoving his pants down to his ankles. Standing in only his boxers, with his cock sticking out. He laid his glasses to rest on the dresser. 

Akechi felt so hot he thought he might explode. Shido had a magnificent body! Toned and smooth! Why had he been hiding it all this time? Akechi used to think it was because he was slightly ashamed of his middle aged body, but clearly he had nothing to be ashamed of! So why…?

Shido caught him staring. He paused before yanking off his boxers. “What?” he demanded. 

Akechi put his hands on his cheeks. Feeling himself sweat. He felt so cheated! “No fair, papa!” He stomped his foot on the ground and threw himself on the bed. Beside himself. “You haven’t let me appreciate your body until now! And you look so amazing…the hottest man I’ve ever seen, the very best…” 

Grunting in amusement (and surely satisfaction, Akechi was purposefully mashing all his buttons), Shido stepped out of his underwear and stood before Akechi with his hands on his hips. “Well, good things come to those who wait. A little patience goes a long way, son.” 

Akechi laughed out loud. Patience, seriously? Was Shido giving him a lecture on patience, after what he’d just done in the car? Did he even hear himself or was he trying to be funny? Either way it was hilarious. Akechi laughed and laughed, stretching out on the bed. Immersing himself in the luxury of those sheets, embracing his own insanity. 

This was crazy, they were both crazy, and it felt like heaven. Akechi thought he might have actually died and this was the afterlife. Some delicious paradise. Or else maybe he was dreaming. But either way, he didn’t care. He just wanted to stay here a little longer! 

They were about to have sex on the bed! Like…a couple!

“If you’re done giggling like a maniac,” Shido laid down on the bed next to him. Tugging off his sweater. “Get undressed. Hurry up.” 

Akechi did as he was told. He squirmed out of his clothes—everything, down to the last thread—and wrapped his body around Shido’s. The fluid slide of naked flesh against naked flesh was a drug. He passed so deep into the sinkhole he literally couldn’t see straight. He never thought he’d get to have Shido like this, and he just…

He just wanted all of him.

Rubbing himself against Shido, addicted to the feel of his skin, Akechi moaned at the top of his lungs. “_Please_….will you make love to me, now? I’ve been waiting _so long_…!” 

A sliver of something sinister and wild ran down the middle of Shido’s brow. He sneered—perhaps it was meant to be a smile. 

“Bend over,” he snarled, grabbing Akechi by the ass and spreading him wide. “Give me this, you _fucking_…”

Akechi pressed his face into the downy bed, propping his ass up as high as he could. When he felt Shido’s hands on him, gripping his ass by the cheeks, he hit the bottom. All the way down to the very floor of the sinkhole. A new low. And also, somehow, a new high. 

His mind left him. 

______________

There was something lodged in Shido’s chest. Throbbing with the same vivacity of his cock, something that felt swollen and needy. Too big for his chest, bubbling up to his throat. 

Shido hadn’t felt this in quite some time. How many years? Oh…he didn’t even know anymore. 

It was his heart. Swelling and breaking at the sight of Akechi’s pink little asshole. He finally had it! The thing he’d been salivating over for the past two months, with nothing to satisfy him except his own hands and his memories of how this hole felt around his cock. Nothing compared. For Shido, he realized, there would only ever be _this_ hole. His son’s. The kid he’d hired to kill for him, who somehow managed to find all his weak spots and merge with them. To make himself into one giant weak spot that Shido had no choice but to nurse like a wound. 

Shido knew now that Akechi had only been interested in Ren because he was following orders. He’d never once lost sight of his directives, never betrayed Shido even in thought—the look on his face just now when he said he missed his dick…oh, fuck, _Christ_. That was true. He’d missed it. No other cock but Shido’s!

God, yes…Shido’s heart inflated until it nearly burst. He didn’t know what to do with all those feelings. Knowing his son missed him, that his cock was something he couldn’t replace either. That he would follow his every order, even if that meant murder or treachery or hardship. Akechi would do it, 

He loved this kid. Shido sighed, licking his chops as he spread Akechi’s cheeks even wider and fixated on that tight little pucker. The hole already open for him, calling his name. Shido sighed again and clutched his chest for a brief moment. 

He loved Goro. He knew that now. Maybe he’d known it before, all along, but he’d been running from it because it was…well, it was terrifying. Love like this came with strings attached. There were all kinds of things you had to do to satisfy its insatiable appetite. Make someone else happy. Think about someone’s needs other than your own. That’s what you had to do with love like this. 

Shido didn’t know if he was up for the job, honestly.

Love like this was a real pain in the ass.

But. Like it or not, he was here now. As he listened to Goro’s slutty little pleas, begging to be fucked, as he imagined him out there in the world, living his interesting goddamn life, winning at everything, and doing it all for Shido’s notice…yeah. Yeah, yeah. Alright. Fine. 

So he loved his son.

Guilty. Sue him, why don’t you? 

Shaking his head, Shido threw away all his old, tattered pride. All his inhibitions, the useless nonsense holding him back. The fear and selfishness that kept him from loving Goro. He couldn’t take any of that with him anymore. Not when he was already on this path of loving the hell out of Goro. No time, no use for any of that. He needed to discard anything extraneous and give in to the madness. 

Because this _was_ madness.

Saliva running down the side of his mouth—he was _starving_, damn it—Shido pounced on Goro’s ass like a rabid dog. He wrapped his mouth around that hole and sucked for all he was worth. Licking tiny pulses against the soft opening with his old, unpracticed tongue. 

Truth be told, Shido had never eaten ass before. He probably wasn’t great at it. But he didn’t care. He wanted to do this right now. Goro tasted absolutely delectable, to an unreal extent. Again, to be fair, it was Shido’s first time having this dish. But he gave it full marks. Compliments to the chef. He’d order it again. 

“AH! Ah-ah! P-papa! That’s—! Ah, your tongue…!” Goro’s whole body trembled like a leaf. He wagged his hips backwards, spearing himself on Shido’s tongue. “Mmmm—ah! Your tongue is inside me, Papa!” 

“You like that?” Shido hummed, piercing his tongue as deep as it could go. Thrashing Goro’s insides in a full circle. Licking harshly along all the soft flesh that yielded to him.

“Y-yes!!” Goro was dripping wet. His cute little cock spread pre-cum all over the silk sheets. “I-it…feels…s-so good! Ah—ah, no! There!” He shook as if struck by lightning. “There, papa! That’s my…!” 

Realizing he was tonguing his son’s prostate, Shido put his shoulders into it. He was smiling like a fool. If anyone were to see him right now, eating out his lover’s ass like some kind of…whatever, Shido would spend years living it down. But he didn’t even care. He loved knowing that he could please Goro with his mouth. That his tongue—however wicked and dictatorial it could be most of the time—was good for something like this. That knowledge satisfied him. Greatly. 

“I-I-I’m g-gonna cum—ah—cum—! I’mgonnacumpapa—!” 

“Cum then, son. Cum from papa’s tongue in your ass…” Shido was grinning like a madman and talking like a fool. His mind was somewhere up in space. Among the clouds and the gods. Where it ought to be.

“Nnnnnnnh….!!” 

With a sweet scream, Shido felt a harsh contraction around his tongue. He reached around to the front and found Goro soaked. Ah, so. He really had cum from just that. 

How adorable. 

Pleased in the extreme, Shido turned Goro around to face him. The kid’s eyes were glazed over, his mouth and neck covered in drool, his entire front ruined with cum. He’d come pretty hard. Shido was unreasonably proud of himself—maybe he had some skill with that after all. Oral sex. Maybe he was actually something of a master. That was probably true! If the evidence of a completely blissed out and ruined Goro was worth anything!

Well, naturally…

Ego successfully fluffed, Shido fit himself between Goro’s spread legs. He lined himself up with that sopping wet hole and slipped in. It was too easy—way too easy! Shido experienced a weird moment where his cock was jealous of his mouth, before he sunk in to the hilt. Ah, no, no. Here, _here_. This soft, hot place. So deep inside only his cock could reach. Stretched so tightly around him. Fitted to his shape, no one else’s. 

_Perfect_. Fucking perfect. As expected. Just as Shido remembered. 

He loved being inside Goro. He’d never get enough.

“Mmmmmm….!” Goro twitched as he was penetrated. He came back to life and wrapped his legs around Shido’s middle. “Mmm, that’s…I’m…s-so s-sensitive right now…I just came…” 

“Good.” Shido took that as all the license in the world. Not that he needed permission. His cock belonged inside Goro and nowhere else. So. He’d take what was his. 

He punctuated his hips with a few good thrusts, watching as Goro shivered and cried. It looked like he was enduring another orgasm, but nothing came out. So, just a mini one then. Shido licked his lips, chasing the taste of his son’s ass. He moaned low in his throat, lifting Goro’s legs to his shoulders. Preparing him for a good plow.

He wanted Goro to keep cumming. He wanted him to cum every time Shido thrusted. He wanted Goro to lose his mind on his cock, so bad that he would never be able to fully recover. He wanted to ruin him for any other man. If he wasn’t already ruined.

…Shido hoped he was already ruined. And if he wasn’t, he sure as hell would be by the end of this. 

Bending Goro in half, Shido fucked him ruthlessly. He kept his eyes locked on Goro’s face. Shit, that was another thing about love like this. You wanted to see the other person get off. You wanted to experience the same thing, because their pleasure in some twisted way was the same as your own. Shido couldn’t remember ever watching someone else’s face as he fucked them. Normally he just closed his eyes and focused on cumming. But this…this was an entirely different thing. 

This was something that you didn’t come back from. 

Every time Shido wrung another cry out of Goro, he felt his own enjoyment shimmer in response. Those cries went right to his dick. As good as Goro’s exquisite ass felt, those cries were just as good. They filled his head until Shido couldn’t hear anything else. Until he didn’t want to.

“How does that feel?” he whispered hotly in Goro’s ear. “Tell me how it feels when I’m fucking you…”

“Oh~~!” A fucked-out, simple smile blossomed over Goro’s face. “Oh it feels so good, papa…it’s the best…” He wrapped his hands around Shido’s head.

Those hands on Shido’s bald skin spurred him on. He fucked him harder. “Keep going…tell me more…” 

“Ah—ha—ah!” Goro arched his back as he was thoroughly hammered. “I—love it! I love it so much! I can’t live without your cock, papa!” 

That was it. That was the kind of shit Shido wanted to hear! Moaning, he buried his face in Goro’s neck and kept pummeling him. He was amazed at how flexible Goro really was. Knees to chest, legs practically spreadeagled. They’d been wasting so much time just doing it at the office. Goro’s true ability came out when he was on the bed, in all his splendid glory. 

Kissing up his neck, leaving tiny bite marks as he went, Shido drank in the taste of this supple skin he’d been imagining for months. It had such a unique give against his mouth. And his smell…Goro’s smell was strongest right underneath the back of his ear. Where his hairline ended. Shido stuck his nose there and sniffed hard, rutting with all the power he possessed. 

“You’re mine,” he growled into Goro’s ear. “You’re all mine. No one else’s…” 

“That’s right! I’m yours!” Goro was screaming at ear-piercing volumes. Throaty and crazed. “I’m yours I’m yours I’m your Imyoursimyours….!” 

Shido felt a push of hot lust behind his eyes. He was about to cum. He wanted to spill his load as far inside Goro as humanly possible, at a place no one else could reach. Somewhere that would be stuck inside him forever, even after they were both dead, regardless of what happened from here on out…

“My boy,” Shido rambled. Covered in sweat, his muscles rippling with each hard thrust. “My little cock slut…you love that, don’t you? You love being my boy…papa’s little slut—”

Drunk off his own words, Shido came. The thing about these pills was that they made his climax much more intense. It felt like a moment of pure clarity, of genuine freedom amongst the trappings of reality. And it made him cum buckets. He spilled everything inside Goro, pulse after pulse, not wasting a single drop. 

Goro moaned, stroking himself fast and hard, licking his lips sloppily. Trying to get off again. He was agreeing wildly. “Yes, yes, yes I’m your sweet little boy! I’m papa’s boy!” 

The other thing about these pills was that after an orgasm, Shido’s cock didn’t flag at all. It stayed hard for at least an hour. So even though he’d fucked Goro open and wet (damn, he felt like a woman right now), he wasn’t anywhere closed to finished. He could go again. Who knew how many times? Guess they’d find out!

“Fuck yeah you are,” Shido crowed. He took Goro’s hand and pushed it away, delaying his orgasm. Delighting in the pitiful whimper that earned him. “And you’re already desperate to cum again even though you just had one. You’re a greedy boy, aren’t you?”

Eyes glossed over with joy, fully wrapped in the mindset of his little, Goro giggled like a kid. “Yup. That’s right. I’m so greedy. I want more. More more more.” 

Shido fucked him again. “Then that’s what you’ll get. Careful what you wish for…” 

This time, Shido wanted Goro to cum on his cock. He held Goro’s hands by the wrists, making sure he didn’t get a chance to touch himself. “Tch,” he remarked, snapping his hips into Goro at just the right angle. The one that made his jaw drop, unable to say anything coherent. Shido loved this angle. “I’ve got to hold you back because I know you can’t stop yourself. You’re just too greedy, son…”

He leaned forward, deepening the angle. He whispered into Goro’s ear, “But then, you are _my_ son, after all.” 

That was the ticket. As he thought. That made Goro cum from nothing but sweet whispers and the hard cock in his ass plowing him right on his favorite spot. He splattered Shido’s toned stomach and sobbed. Tears running down his face, clenching his teeth as he came down from that harsh orgasm. 

Shido did something he never did. This was a day of firsts. Hell, they were in fucking Fiji!

He kissed Goro’s tears as they fell, wiping them away with one hand. He kissed and kissed, slathering Goro’s face full of affection. A warm, fatherly type of affection, he thought. But, he didn’t really know. Maybe it was cold as ice coming from a man like Shido. Either way, Goro seemed to be into it. He pressed his cheek to Shido’s forehead and hummed in contentment.

“I love you, papa…” he cooed. 

“I know.” Shido knew that. He’d known for a while. 

It felt good to hear, though. He’d admit that at least. On this path of self destruction, giving up everything he’d built to keep Goro out, all the defenses he put in place to stop the onslaught of love he had for this kid. All destroyed. In that destruction, Shido could admit that he liked hearing how much Goro loved him back. 

He looked at his son calmly. He was still hard. Locking eyes, he fucked Goro softly until he felt himself reaching new heights. This kind of soft sex—(what was it when you took your time and moved your hips in a slow, circular rhythm? Was that something new? Shido didn’t know)—was addictive. Shido loved looking in Goro’s eyes as he fucked him. Seeing all the emotions pooling and eventually leaking out in tears. He loved it all. 

When Shido came again, he surprised himself. He made a sound that was high in his throat, almost like a cry. He almost didn’t recognize his own voice for a second! Where the hell had that sound come from? And why the hell had that orgasm turned his balls inside out—he kept coming and coming, regardless of his own dignity…

That climax unmanned him, Shido realized. 

Worried, he pulled out of Goro and watched his face for any reactions. But Goro seemed not to notice. 

“Nnnh…papa!” he whined, hands outstretched. Clutching the air. “Where are you going? I’m not satisfied at all…!” 

Oh, good. So it seemed Goro hadn’t even heard. Or if he did, he didn’t think anything of it. 

Good. And, the sight of him reaching out to Shido wasn’t too bad either. 

Re-energized, Shido looked down at Goro’s legs. He spread them apart again, watching some of his semen spill out. There were two heavy loads inside, he knew, and he knew that Goro was getting off on how that felt. Or at least, he hoped. 

He hoped his son wasn’t taking it for granted. Shido had saved up for him, taken those pills, and not even masturbated for days in preparation. So Goro should appreciate what he had!

“You better not be planning on wasting what I gave you…” Shido scolded, running his finger through the watery mess on Goro’s thighs. 

On cue, Goro tightened. “I won’t, papa! I’ll hold it all in!” 

Shido considered that. “Hm, but then you’ll get a stomachache.” 

“I don’t care,” Goro shook his head. “It doesn’t bother me!” 

Running a hand through his beard, Shido came up with a better idea. He didn’t want Goro to be in pain for this trip. He wanted Goro to have nothing but sweet, pleasurably memories. So much so that he would be addicted to Shido for life. He’d be begging for more trips and vacations in the future, hungry for another weekend where they could just be together and not care about else…he didn’t want him to suffer.

He did, however, want Goro to remember damn well who he belonged to. He wanted Goro to see how much cum was inside him, to feel the weight of it and know that he’d brought it upon himself. By avoiding him these past few months and by being so goddamn adorable the rest of the time. Especially during sex.

“Come here.” Shido yanked Goro to his feet, dragging him by the shoulder. 

“Wha…?” 

Heedless of his son’s half-uttered question, Shido marched them (naked and filthy) through the villa. He brought Goro to the sitting room again—right in front of the entrance—and made him stand on the carpet. That carpet that probably cost an arm and a leg. Maybe it was made from the rarest materials on earth or something like that. Sounded right.

“Push it out,” he commanded. Pressing Goro into a squatting position. 

“Wh-what…?” Goro blinked owlishly at him. Confused, and obviously clenching hard to keep Shido’s gifts inside (couldn’t be easy with how much there was). 

“I said push it out. Right here. All over this carpet that costs more money than you’ve ever seen in your life.” Shido flashed him a deranged half-smile. “Let’s ruin it.” 

Grinning from ear to ear, Goro realized what he meant. “Okay, papa!” he said cheerily. 

And he let go. He did exactly what Shido asked and spilled all their filth right onto the carpet. It took nearly a full minute to get all of it out; Shido helped towards the end. Scooping some onto his fingers and wiping them off on the carpet. Smearing it into the fibers. Finger-painting in the depravity. 

There was a huge stain in the middle of this rug now. It would certainly never be the same. 

Shido nodded. Quite happy with that. 

“Wow, that was a lot, papa…” Goro commented. Smiling as sloppily as the mess they’d just made. “I thought we’d never get it out!” 

Humming contentedly, once again full of his usual confidence, Shido helped Goro to his feet. “That was all for you, you know.” 

Goro threw himself at Shido, wrapping him in a hug. “I’m so lucky!” 

“Yes, you are.” Shido stroked his back and patted him on the head for a few moments. Was this—this random bit of pure, disgusting hedonism—the moment Shido had been looking for? 

Perhaps, perhaps not. 

Either way, he was still hard as hell. He needed to go fuck Goro some more to clear his head.

He ran his thumb across Goro’s chin and tilted his face up to look at him. “If you think I’m anywhere near done with you, then you’re sorely mistaken. Get ready.” 

A sly, smug kind of smile slithered its way to one side of Goro’s face. “Oh, I know. Don’t worry, papa, I’m ready for more.” 

Good! Shido reared his head back in delighted surprise. Very good. His son’s appetite was more tenacious than he thought. 

And that was another thing that was perfect about him. 

____________________________________________________  
  


So began four days of Shido spoiling the absolute crap out of Goro. He turned it up all the way to eleven with this one (possibly because he didn’t really have a notion of the proper, sane way to go about things, so he just went all out). Every moment of every day, Shido made sure Goro was involved in some type of relaxing or luxurious or sex-filled activity. 

He took Goro to the spa, bought him the full treatment. Mud bath, herbal soak, steam room, and a full body massage—which, Shido demanded be given by a woman, and that he be present for. He watched her hands the whole time, making sure there was no funny business…not that there would be, rationally speaking, but Shido wouldn’t have allowed it any other way. He wanted to see exactly who was touching his son and where. His pride (and newfound severe jealousy) demanded it. Shido even checked in with Goro while the massage was going on, making sure he was comfortable the whole time. 

“Is it too much?” he asked when Goro scrunched his face up in discomfort. 

Goro shook his head. “No…no, it’s fine…” 

But Shido ended the massage early anyway. He couldn’t explain why. Just that there was a sour taste in his mouth for a while afterwards. Something stuck in the back of his head that wouldn’t come loose for the life of him.

Hmm, regardless. He continued the Great Spoiling of Akechi Goro. 

He signed Goro up for snorkeling. Even let Goro talk him into wearing a pair of swimming trunks and sitting on the beach—something Shido hadn’t done since he was a child. Sitting mostly naked on the sand, which went all kinds of place you didn’t want it to go…besides which, Shido couldn’t swim (a fact he preferred to keep to himself). He hated the beach. So, Goro convincing him to spend an afternoon on the shore while he went swimming was a huge feat. Shido sat there grumpily, but he liked the pictures Goro showed him afterwards. Seemed nice. Not only that, but Goro’s body was delicious in a bathing suit. He was on the skinny side (what, didn’t he eat enough? Go to the gym like a boy his age ought to? Shido vowed to find out). Just a slim mass of creamy skin and tangled hair. 

Shido loved looking at him. However, he decided he liked it much better if he was the only one who got to appreciate the sight (the swim instructor who rented him the snorkel was a little too handsy for Shido’s tastes). So for the rest of the trip he told Goro to swim in private pool in the backyard of the villa. Goro agreed. Shido even spent some time in the pool himself, which was unheard of for him. But the water was temperature controlled and Goro was insistent. So, he did it. 

Over the four days, Shido allowed himself one nap by the pool side. It was rather refreshing, he’d admit. Sun on your face. Warm. The promise of Goro’s sweet body when he woke up with a stirring in his belly. Afternoon naps got him horny, Shido realized. It was almost funny! Conserving that much energy meant he was able to use it later for whatever he liked. 

Not that he’d ever have the time in his normal life for naps. It just wouldn’t happen. But, it was fun while it lasted. 

Most of the time, they ate their meals in the villa. Their personal chefs were phenomenal. Even Goro admitted so, and wasn’t he some kind of food expert? Apparently it was just something he did to garner attention. That sounded right. But Shido still liked watching Goro enjoy a meal. He showed him how to properly pair wine with main course, explaining how the various tones in a wine complimented savory dishes and so on and so forth. Goro was a quick study, so he’d surely use the information for good in the future. 

Surprising to both of them: Shido actually didn’t drink all that much on the trip. Hardly at all. He had one drink with dinner every night and that was it. He didn’t really have a reason. The booze was good, after all. But he preferred to save his wits and his energy for the bedroom. Getting too tipsy hurt his performance, Shido knew, and he didn’t want that. He didn’t have a need for the Klonopin either. He didn’t want anything clouding his mind for these four days. He wanted to experience it whole. 

Even more surprising than that: Shido didn’t miss anything. Not the alcohol or the drugs. He used to think he needed to kick the habit with force of will, but…he hadn’t had even one single craving to imbibe. Not one. 

Strange.

They also spent a fair amount of time playing games. The usual fair: Darts, pool, cards. Shido had taken it upon himself to teach Goro all of these in the past so this was their time to practie. He also demanded they play chess at least once—to prove to himself that he still had it—which Goro agreed to. And yes, Goro was very good. Too good, even, Shido might admit. He actually lost. 

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Goro grinned. Staring at his father across a checkmate he’d inflicted without breaking a sweat.

“I know,” Shido huffed, pushing his glasses up. “With your little friend. The leader of the phantom thieves. Right?” 

“That’s right.” Goro reset the board. “Want to play again?” 

“Hmm.” 

Shido honestly hated losing. Of course. He wasn’t a man who normally allowed such a thing. But this time, Goro had beaten him fair and square. He couldn’t conjure any excuses for himself. Just that Goro was the more skilled player.

For some reason, that didn’t bother Shido as much as it should. He almost…liked it. Knowing that Goro harbored innate skill and intellect. Enough to rival his own. It should have pissed him off to no end! But actually…Shido was pleased. And impressed.

Still, though. He suggested they stick to pool. Shido would always best him at billiards, no question.

There, at least, Goro had not improved by very much. Shido won several rounds in a row. “You haven’t gotten much better,” he scolded his son. “Less chess, I think, and more pool practice would suite you.” (Alright, he was taking advantage of an opportunity to throw his wins in Goro’s face. Shido had lost with his pride intact, but he’d never be able to win with grace. That was a simple fact.) 

Goro just shrugged. “Actually, I have been practicing. I’m the best among that group of friends. I always win. Cards too. And bets on the slot machines.” 

“Oho.” Shido nodded approvingly. “Good.” 

He hoped those little brats cried when his son kicked their ass. The thought brought him much enjoyment. They were so busy meddling and meddling…they needed to be taken down a few pegs. Shown their place. Goro—their same age, but so far above them in every way—was the perfect person to do that. 

Shido looked to the future with anticipation.

Needless to say, they spent the majority of their time on the trip having sex. They did it in every room of the villa, as Goro requested. Shido was on the exact same page. He wanted to claim his son in every position and every conceivable geographical location. That was rewarding in its own right. More than that, Shido liked the idea of destroying the villa’s sanctity. Deep down, Shido hated rich people. He hadn’t been rich growing up; he’d fought hard for every single thing he’d earned. He’d always secretly harbored a good deal of resentment for people that hadn’t experienced his same struggle. People for whom everything came easy. Shido found them disgusting. He consoled himself with the idea that it was his mission in life to rule over such people, over everything. 

Because it was. And he would. 

Material things didn’t quite appeal to him on a personal level. He didn’t own any fancy cars or clothes or real estate. To his (legal) name, the only thing of any value was a luxury apartment in Roppongi—but he rented it! Opulent goods were appealing as status symbols, which Shido hoarded for show, but he didn’t get much enjoyment out of them on their own.

This trip had been conceived as a way to flaunt expensive things to Goro in an effort to make him want to be with Shido. But that was the wrong angle, Shido realized now. Akechi was indeed impressed by expensive things, but he didn’t want them for himself. What he really wanted was to be fucked. To be given attention. Constant and loyal. Like a pet. Or…a son. Or whatever. 

Shido had been an idiot not to see that. Fortunately, he’d come to his senses.

Which meant that the fancy things in the villa (and the island as a whole) suddenly had no value to either of them. Shido didn’t care about aesthetics. He hardly even cared about money other than to use it to open doors on his quest to power. 

Both he and Goro found they got much more enjoyment out of destroying things. 

He fucked Goro on the immaculate glass windows, leaving streaks of sweat and cum behind. He fucked him on every single couch, ripping up the fabric in the throes of passion and wrapping the mangled strips around Goro like some kind of weird jewelry. Goro’s naked body was accentuated by the tatters of splendor, Shido thought. Together they destroyed all the couches. 

They took all the sheets out of the drawers and had sex on every single one. Shido told Goro to bite the silk when he came, leaving his teethmarks in various places. Whatever the thread count, those fancy sheets could be ruined as easily as the rest. Indelible impressions of Goro’s mouth marked each one. To Shido, that only increased their value, honestly!

Housekeeping was under direct orders not to disturb them (not even once) until their stay was over. So, as the nights wore on, the villa deteriorated into more and more disarray. They threw crystal drinking glasses on the floor and at the walls. They used the cigar light to burn some of the rare wooden furniture. They ate on the countertops and didn't clean after themselves.

Towards the end, Shido got a little carried away. As he tended to do, he'd admit. In one of the sitting rooms, there was a floor-to-ceiling portrait of a some horses prancing along the shore. Huge and indulgent, but ultimately mundane and banal as hell. The painter had spent the majority of his time adding realistic details to the horses’s bodies. Their muscles, the spray from the waves making their coats gleam. Who gave a shit about horses? What, did the painter want to fuck one of these horses or something? Disgusting. And boring! Shido found that portrait useless in every sense of the word and he knew it probably cost millions upon millions of yen. But ultimately, worth nothing.

Shido figured he had a way to make this painting worth something. High from their escalating destruction, Shido took the painting off the wall (no easy feat, it was heavier than it looked) and threw it at Goro’s feet. Then, he came up behind Goro and mercilessly jerked him off. Whispering all the things he knew Goro liked to hear. Things that got his son off in record time. 

He made Goro cum all over that painting. All over the ocean and those goddamn horses. You see, this was the kind of aesthetic Shido could appreciate! His son’s cum on the walls. That was the only art worth a damn. 

Then, Shido knelt down and ate out Goro’s ass again. Making him cum one more time, this time over the artist’s flowery signature. Erasing it. Delighting in his son’s pleasure, knowing that it was the most precious thing in this villa by far. 

Goro liked to destroy, too, Shido saw. He always got off faster and harder when there was an opportunity to ruin something valuable. Shido liked that. He imagined they’d do this again soon—take a trip somewhere expensive just to wreck up the place. It was cute. As a hobby it was pretty vanilla, he reasoned. 

Besides. If they got enjoyment out of it, then it was worth everything in the world.

_______________________________________  
  


In spite of all the fun they had, the final morning of the vacation found Shido troubled. 

They were all packed. Ready to board the private jet that would take them back to the mainland in a few hours. This time they were flying together to Suva and then they’d take separate flights to Tokyo. After four days of doing everything together, of fucking each others’ brains out, doing things they never dreamed of in a million years…the idea of taking two different planes was a hard slap in the face.

Back to reality, Shido thought, buttoning up his usual white dress shirt. Time to get back into politics, into the nonsense of this election. The power struggle that he used to love so much. Now, for some reason, the thought of it just felt…tedious. 

He lived a tedious life, Shido realized. 

Working all the time was fine if you didn’t see it as work. For Shido, he’d always thought he possessed the self control to succeed no matter how he felt. Besides, he didn’t see leadership as work. It was what he lived for! He didn’t have any other purpose. This is why they’d given him the legislator’s pin, wasn’t it? So he could live a life steering others in the right direction. Shido wore that pin with pride every day of the year. He’d accepted his duty, knowing on some level that he was chosen to do it by fate. Probably. 

But…

Shido sighed. It was tiring sometimes.

He listened to the shower running in the adjacent bathroom. Goro was washing up before their flight. He thought about sneaking in and watching—a soaked Goro was an intoxicating sight, and he didn’t mind peeking for a few minutes, whether Goro knew he was there or not…but…

Shido rubbed his forehead. He couldn’t shake the nagging feeling of disappointment eating away at his heart and mind.

Why the hell was he disappointed? He’d done everything he’d set out to do, and then some! Goro was his now. Forever. No way any other man could satisfy him after the things they’d done the past few days…the sheer volume of sex alone meant no other man’s cock would ever fit right in that ass. None except Shido’s. And Goro knew that. Besides, Shido knew now what Goro needed to be happy. Just his attention! That was so easy! Such a trivial thing! Shido could give Goro what he wanted any time, any day, if it was something as simple as that…

…Simple…

But hadn’t that been what Goro always wanted? Even before they met. Or, back to the first time. When that woman was still alive and she showed Goro to Shido as a baby. That tiny, squirmy baby with the big eyes. Just trying to lift its head. Shido remembered it very well, for some reason. The baby Goro had been. 

Hadn’t that baby just wanted to be loved? 

Shido clicked his tongue in irritation. He hated second guessing himself, almost as much as he hated losing. Or people putting words in his mouth. Or emotional manipulation. Or losers. Or…well, any of the other things Shido hated. He supposed he hated quite a number of things in the world. But he didn’t know when that started. He’d only wanted to be the man at the top. The one with the responsibility and judgement to lead everyone else. When had he started listing all the things that pissed him off?

Alright, he’d always had a temper. But, that baby…Shido shouldn’t have taken his temper out on that baby. That baby hadn’t done anything! Other than being born. You couldn’t help being born, could you? Why had Shido been so pissed off at the time?

He’d felt tricked. Like that woman tricked him, like she was trying to manipulate him. He’d been afraid—suddenly he was a father, shit! What the hell did he know about being a father? Nothing, that’s what! He’d been intimidated. Facing down a life and a challenge he didn’t want and never saw for himself. Something that threw a wrench into his plans. 

These were all things he’d hated. So, he turned that woman and that baby away in disgust. But, eventually, that baby grew up to be Goro. And Goro, Shido realized, was the most pleasurable thing in Shido’s life right now. A break in the tedium. A shiny pearl in a sea of grueling tasks, a haven in a relentless uphill battle. Shido was lucky to have Goro, he realized now. 

He should have known that babies grow up. He shouldn’t have turned them away. He shouldn’t have.

Fuck. 

Balling his hands into fists, Shido punched the pillow in a fit of anger. Great, now he was second guessing his choices! Goddamn it all! He should never, ever question himself. Never! His judgement was absolute! When he made that decision back then, he must have had a good reason…he just couldn’t remember now, so long after the fact…what it was…

Anyway, the past was the past. No good could ever come from agonizing over it. Or wishing it had gone a different way. 

But for Goro…

Shido thought back to the massage his son had gotten. He’d been so attentive, making sure that masseuse handled him with the utmost care. And even so, Goro seemed to shrink at the idea of being touched. Of being vulnerable. He was like that because…

…Because…

Because in his past, Shido had not been there to make everyone treated Goro with respect. He’d left him in the care of an unstable prostitute, who then killed herself and left him in the care of the foster system. The homes Goro had been through…he’d told Shido about a few of them. Not to make him feel guilty, or anything, just to explain. There were…certain things that stood out in those stories. Goro seeing things no young boy ever should. People speaking to him in appalling ways. People touching Goro in ways they shouldn’t have…

…Ways they had no _right _to.

Shido didn’t like to think about those stories too often because they really pissed him off. He’d considered tracking down all the people who’d hurt Goro in the past and having them killed. He’d very, very seriously considered it. But then he realized that killing them didn’t solve anything. They weren’t roadblocks to the future, they were pitfalls from the past. 

You couldn’t change the past. Not even if you killed all the people you'd rather didn't exist. 

Shido had eventually dropped the idea. Moved on. But it wasn’t until now that he really…considered the weight of the things Goro had been through. Spending so much time together was nothing if not a reminder of the humanity inside them both. Goro was a human. Not just Shido’s son, but a human. He’d been throughmore as an eighteen year old than most people ever had in their whole life. Now he was twisted as a person. He wasn’t normal. He’d lost a fair bit of sanity on the road of life, and Shido could have stopped it…he probably could have found someone else to do all those killings in the metaverse. Why did it have to be Goro? His own son? 

Not that Shido pitied him. He wasn’t really capable of pity.

But he was capable of…regret. And right in that moment—on a beautiful sunny morning in tropical Fiji—Shido found himself full of regret. 

He should have been there for Goro. To keep all those disgusting pieces of trash from going anywhere near his son. From taking what rightfully belonged to Shido, (if only he hadn’t passed it up). He should have been there to fight away all the wandering hands and disastrous words and horrible, filthy places Goro had slept. He could have given him so much, even back then when he wasn’t so successful or nearly as wealthy…he could have done it. 

Damn this regret. Damn everything. Damn this heart that wanted Goro’s happiness so badly now. Damn his cock that was addicted to Goro’s body, damn his pride for leading him astray. Damn everything.

Shido put his head in his hands and contemplated the things he’d done. The things he regretted. 

“Shido-san?” 

Goro appeared next to Shido. He hadn’t even heard him leave the shower. Now suddenly there was a towel-clad Goro sitting next to him, eyeing him like he had sprouted five extra heads. Shido hadn’t gotten himself together at all. Not even a little bit. He wasn’t…ready to face Goro.

But, here he was. Here they both were.

Shido sighed and rubbed his mouth. He knew what he needed to do. He didn’t love the idea, but. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew his own heart, his own mind. He knew there was only one way to put an end to all this regret marring his senses.

Just fucking do it, damn it. Like a man. Like a grown-ass man!

“Goro, I…”

__________________________  
  


There was some kind of look on Shido’s face. Something Akechi had never seen before, and something that honestly scared him. Shido’s glasses were off and he wasn’t fully dressed. He looked vulnerable and…old. Not old as in showing his age or anything. No, he looked mentally old. Like there was something wearing on him. From the inside out. 

And that was terrifying because Shido had no conscience, as everyone knew. Akechi shuddered to think what horrible thing he could have done in the past ten minutes to put that look on his face. So, what? Had he ordered a nuclear airstrike? Some terrorist attack that killed millions of people? Were they finally there?

“Goro, I…” Shido sighed and shook his head. Hard, like he was trying to clear it. “I need to tell you something.”

Okay. This was the conversation Akechi had been waiting for. The one where he told them they were wanted criminals. That their plan had been foiled once and for all and now they needed to live the rest of their lives underground, or else face a jury of their peers and the long arm of the law. 

It’d been an amazing weekend. Four whole days of depraved, exquisite pleasure. Akechi wouldn’t have had his last four days as a free man be anything else. He could say he lived well. 

Now it was time for reality to crash down upon—

“I’m sorry.” 

Akechi frowned. “Huh? Sorry?” So, this was not how he’d imagined this conversation going. Shido looked reluctant to say anything. In his head, Akechi always thought Shido would be urgent. Telling them to move fast, that he had a safe house stashed away somewhere…not this reticent old man he was right now. 

Not to mention, those two words rang in Akechi’s ears like alarm bells. An actual apology? Was the world really ending? Was this an apocalypse scenario? 

“…Yeah.” Shido rubbed the back of his neck. Self-conscious. Sucking his teeth again and again. “I…should have been there for you. When you were growing up. I shouldn’t have…turned your mother away like that. I should have done everything differently. And…I regret it now.” 

You could have knocked Akechi over with a feather.

A look of poignant, growing shock was painted on his face. It took Shido’s words a long time to worm their way through Akechi’s brain. He’d never expected to hear them—how could he possibly?—and now he thought…

“Wh-what?” He stammered, throat dry and mouth wet. As if swallowing was suddenly foreign concept to him.

This couldn’t be real. This must be Akechi’s imagination running away with itself again. Was he high? Drunk? Was this all a dream? Was he in a coma and now the doctors were pulling the plug on him, letting him pass into the next life…? 

This wasn’t real! Shido was _not_ saying that to him right now. No. No no no no….!

“You heard me,” Shido growled. “Don’t play dumb.” 

“No no no…” Akechi almost laughed. Shaking his head. Feeling empty and weightless, like his arms were floating away from him. “No, I must have heard wrong. What did you just say to me?” 

Shido roared in anger. “Well listen carefully this time, then! I’m not going to repeat myself a third time!” 

He sucked in air and faced Akechi. Regaining some self control. He ran a hand down the side of his son’s face, locking eyes with him. Then he said, slowly and clearly, with more determination than before: “I’m sorry, son. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I should have helped your mother raise you properly. And I regret all the things that happened to you. I really do.” 

With Shido’s hands on his face and his eyes beguiling nothing (for once), Akechi was left with no choice. No way around it. He had to face the truth of what Shido was saying. This his father was sorry and that he meant it. 

For real.

Several things shattered inside of Akechi all at once. Split into pieces like a fractured mirror. Things that he’d had names for, things that he’d harbored and cultivated tenderly until they grew into a fixation for revenge that gave birth to Loki. The black mask. All those things. Structures Akechi had built to save himself. To keep himself whole in the face of such pain as he’d experienced…

Then all at once, all those things were gone. With Shido’s words. A dozen pitiful structures Akechi had manufactured inside his heart to make revenge his only wish. Those structures fell around him like sand. Once they were gone…he couldn’t remember them anymore. He remembered the pain, though. Oh yes, the pain was still there. But his anger and hatred, his rage, it shrank to nothing against the looming monster of Shido’s words.

Consumed by pain and confusion, Akechi turned away. He should have been crying. But for some reason he wasn’t. He could barely speak. His mind felt weird, like he’d been drinking. He should have been screaming at Shido, he should have been jumping into his arms in happiness. He should have been doing one of those things!

But he wasn’t. 

All Akechi could do was sit there. Everything sat on the end of a pin, bleeding slowly, about to topple over. He could hardly think. 

“What…what the fuck am I supposed to do with that…” he mumbled. 

His rage was all he had! Or so Akechi thought. His anger at Shido, at the world. These were the things that kept him going in the bad times! Now, without them, what the hell was he? Just some lost little kid trying to stand up against a tidal wave of awfulness looming overhead—

Goddamn Shido! Taking away everything from him! Even his anger! What right did he have—

Akechi punched Shido on the arm. His eyes and mouth twisted into a sneer. A biting, hot fury. “Fuck you! What the fuck am I supposed to do with that! That half-assed apology! You think that fixes everything?! It sure as hell doesn’t, you bastard! You—” 

“No, I know it doesn’t.” Shido didn’t even flinch when Akechi punched him. It was barely a hit after all. If Akechi really wanted to do some damage, he would have punched him the face. A punch in the arm was just a placeholder for words that were slow to come. “I know it doesn’t, alright? I’m just saying…” 

“Saying….what….?” Akechi was getting dizzy. He was so overwhelmed with feelings—and the sudden lack of feelings—that he truly did not know what to do. 

“You heard what I said.” Shido brushed his thumbs over Akechi’s cheeks. For the first time, Akechi realized he was crying. Strong, silent tears. “I’m not going to say it again. But you should know…” He sighed. “You should know that it’s the truth. That I have a lot of regrets about the way you grew up. Even more now…now that I…” 

Pinkness bloomed in his father’s cheeks. Shido blinked and looked away. Then he looked back and finished his sentence: “Now that I’ve grown to love you so much.” 

Akechi closed his eyes. Those words passed through him like a ghost. His soul shimmered and his tears stopped. He wobbled where he sat. He wished he could say that Shido was lying, like always. That he was manipulating him and playing him like a piece in some grand chess game in the sky or wherever. But Akechi knew he wasn’t. This was the truth. Shido really loved him.

Shido really _loved_ him.

In the wake of all that destruction, all the feelings Akechi knew he should have and suddenly didn’t, in the sudden absence of purpose…Akechi smiled. A smile, innocent smile. Timid. Tasting what it felt like to be loved, for the first time. Like afrightened animal nibbling on a morsel, afraid something will come and snatch it away from him any second. Akechi tasted that love and found…

…it tasted pretty good.

“You love me?” he teased, feeling like he was about to pass out. 

Shido nodded. Not afraid of the truth anymore. “Yeah. I do.” He combed a loving hand through Akechi’s hair. “And I know I wasn’t there for you when you were small. But…I’m here now, okay?” 

He tried to pull Akechi in for a hug. He met some resistance at first—Akechi wasn’t sure he could handle a hug in that moment, so he fought it. But in the end, he didn’t have the strength to fight for long. He just let Shido hug him. He fell against his father’s chest and rested. Wrapped in his smell and his warm, strong arms.

“I’m here now,” Shido repeated. 

Akechi clung to the fabric of Shido’s dress shirt. Taking two fistfuls of the material and vowing never to let go. Shido had made a real fucking mess of his life. And now Akechi was going to make sure he helped him clean it up. That they cleaned it all up together. 

“…you better fucking be here…you asshole…” he murmured into Shido’s chest.

He heard Shido chuckle. It was strange to hear in such close proximity, pressed to his chest. That chuckle vibrated against Akechi’s face.

“I know, I know. I am, alright? I am.” 

____________________________________________  
  


Maybe there was something to all those old adages. The sayings and morals people told kids to make them less whiny, less selfish. Maybe there was actually some truth in them.

The truth will set you free. And all that.

After telling Goro the truth about how he felt, Shido did feel a huge pass of relief. He felt better in general. Refreshed. Ready to tackle the drudgery of his life’s passion, pursuing the prime minister position. Like a new man!

Well, almost. 

While they checked over their bags to make sure everything was packed, Shido took one of the small marble statues from the office room (yes, the villa had an office room) desk. He thought it might look nice on his own desk in Tokyo. So, he stuck the statute in his carry on and advised Goro to do the same. To find something in the villa he liked that was small enough to take with him. 

“Hm? Steal?” Goro asked blankly. His eyes were still a little red from all the crying they’d done. And his throat was a little scratchy from all the screaming he’d done during the sex immediately after the crying. That sex was some of the best they’d had yet.

“Of course.” Shido frowned, annoyed by Goro’s naivety. "When you stay in a place this fancy, you have to steal at least one thing of value. Otherwise it’s a waste of your time and money. Be reasonable.

“O…kay…” Goro looked around. “So what should I…steal?” 

Shido shrugged. “That’s up to you. I’m calling the car in a minute so decide quickly.” He sat himself down on one of the shredded couches.

Goro walked up and down the debris of the villa. Broken wine glasses littered the floor. Goro did his best to sidestep the mess. “Do you think…I mean, will you have to pay for all this stuff? Because we wrecked it?” 

Shaking his head, Shido fished another Cohiba cigar out of his suit pocket. He lit it up and inhaled deeply. One last crazy expensive smoke before they went back to Tokyo. “Doubtful,” he answered. “Like I said, the owner of this island owes me a favor. He’d probably rather not advertise my stay here at all. I’m sure he’ll be willing to sweep these past four days under the rug entirely. Might even erase my name from his records.” 

“Oh. I see.” Goro played with some of the strips of fabric dangling from the couch. Absentmindedly. 

Shido considered for a moment. Then he held the cigar out to Goro. “Here. Try it.” 

Blinking numbly, Goro took the cigar. He smoked it all wrong. Like it was a cigarette. He coughed thickly for a while in the aftermath, clearly not used to any kind of smoke in his lungs. 

Shido found that endearing. He calmly showed Goro the proper way to smoke a cigar. To hold it in your mouth for a few moments. Never directly inhale, just let it breathe on your lips. Taste it.

He liked watching Goro’s mouth work around the cigar. He liked imaging the taste of it lingering on his tongue. He couldn’t wait to kiss him later. 

“Do you think we should…” Goro said around a mouthful of smoke, passing it back to his father. “…try to clean up a little bit?” 

At that, Shido was honestly surprised. He raised his eyebrows. “…It’s an awfully big mess, son. We don’t have a lot of time left.” 

Goro nodded. “I know, but…it seems wrong to leave it like this. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Maybe just this room?” 

Puffing on the end of his cigar, Shido shrugged. “Well, if it means something to you…I guess, sure. Just this room.” 

So he got to his feet. Together, they cleaned it. Bit by bit. Swept all the broken glass into the garbage. Found a roll of tape and patched up the couches as best they could. There were stains on the carpet and in the fabrics that would certainly never come out, but. That was fine. They passed a sponge over the marble countertops. Picked up the tilted furniture. Shido had urinated in the fireplace a few days ago, just for fun, because he could. He threw a bucket of cold water over it now. It nearly made more of a mess, but. At least it smelled better. 

“Okay.” Goro looked satisfied once they were done. “It looks…better, I think?”

If you squinted. Not nearly the way they’d found it, and they’d only even tried to work on one corner of the place—there was still a huge mess waiting in all the other rooms—but. Still. It was slightly better. “Livable, at least,” Shido commented.

Goro looked up at him. He pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to Shido. 

“Oho.” It was a piece of the painting they’d wrecked together. One of the horses’ hooves. Apparently Goro had found his memento from this place. The little thing he was going to steal. “Good choice,” Shido praised. His son had chosen well. That painting was a hell of a thing.

Smiling faintly, Goro took his father’s hand. Just holding it. Like lovers did. Or, perhaps, like family. 

“Call the car,” he said. “I’m ready now.” 

Shido was ready too. For the parts that came next. 

They couldn’t go backward. Only forward.

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still another title for this fic: "The one where Shido has a change of heart because he develops feelings for someone." You know, like how normal human beings do! *thumbs up* 
> 
> I'm leaving the ending wide open! Does canon change? Do they all die and Shido goes to jail or whatever? Does he change his nefarious ways and find another way to live? Entirely up to you! I like to think you could see a lot of different endings for these guys. And they're all valid!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, fam! Hope you enjoyed this slice of insanity as much as I did <3 <3

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on the usual social media (tumblr @jeejascoffe) (twitter @jeejastea) (discord @jeejasz).


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